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Rebating essential users would give us a level playing field
Page 28
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I READ WITH INTEREST that the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) is calling for an essential-user fuel rebate in Ireland (CM 17 August).The pressure on hauliers and other essential fuel users continues to grow and we all wait with bated breath for the next increase.
I think it's obvious to any reasonably intelligent soul that whatever government is in power, it is required by us, the public, to provide good services at reasonable cost and has to raise funds somewhere. Much like the haulage industry,I suppose!
Rather than squabbling with the government, we need to do two things. Firstly, raise the profile of our situation as an industry: the oft-repeated slogan 'If you've got it, a truck brought it' has some relevance here. Secondly, we should be offering suggestions to the government which, at times does appear to inhabit a different world from the rest of us.
A simple suggestion from a small fish in the sea then? Two things would bring us to somewhere near a level playing field with our Continental counterparts and give us breathing space in which we may be able to restore the margins from those good times long ago.
Rebating essential users using existing revenue collection systems is a simple matter. Increase the level of VAT on diesel to, let's say 25%, and at the same time reduce the duty level on it to compensate exactly for the VAT inerease.All or certainly most hauliers and owner-drivers are VAT-registered and so could claim the higher VAT margin through their returns.Other users of diesel who are not VATregistered could not claim the VAT back, but would have no price increase at the pump as the duty reduction will have compensated them.This then is a targeted system that assists the essential user with little or no operational expense.
We've operated dual-level VAT before, after all.
This would obviously create a deficit in the Treasury revenue figures,To offset this, in part at least, I'd suggest a ticket levy on all foreignregistered vehicles shipping to the UK.
This system would be equivalent to the flight tax imposed on air travel currently and could be collected by the ferry companies. Either a flat rate or weight-related levy would suffice, with foreign operators being charged, let's say,f25 to enter the UK.The Port of Dover alone shipped 1.67 million freight vehicles last year. If, on current figures, 75% of these are foreign-registered, that would be an income of £31.3m just from Dover!
Maybe this is just too simple, but I believe we need to think outside the box and avoid party politics on this vital issue.
Graham Richmond Bye-mail