Colley complains
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• The RHA has attacked the Government for withholding information on the road expenditure outlined in the White Paper on public spending.
While welcoming the increased spend for roads, RHA director-general Bryan Colley accuses the Government of being "economical with the detail", particularly on local authority spending. • VED fuel duty should at least be frozen in this year's Budget, argues the Freight Transport Association in its submission to Chancellor John Major.
The FTA says that in the current economic climate any increases in these taxes would be inflationary, and would put British operators at an even greater disadvantage compared with their counterparts on the Continent.
"The Single European Market is bound to sharpen competition and British industry will continue to suffer while its goods vehicles remain the highest taxed within the EC," warns the association.
There is particular scorn for the current VED system which, the FTA argues, is weighted unfairly against certain CV configurations. Fouraxle rigids are cited as having been particularly badly treated, with average increases in VED of 17% and 16% in road taxes overall between 1986 and 1989, compared with 4% and 12% respectively on average for other commercial vehicles.