That Budget
Page 35
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IN common with all businesses, road transport operators will suffer under the general taxation restrictions of Mr. Callaghan's Budget. There is, however, something extra for hauliers and C licensees to bear. —an increase of 50 per cent in excise taxation. Since public service vehicles have—very wisely—been exempted, there is some reason for wondering whether this move is not, in fact, a thinly-disguised effort to force traffic from road to rail.
What does the Chancellor's increase really mean? Take, for instance, a 7-tormer with an unladen weight of 3 tons 4 cwts. Before the Budget its annual duty was £46 10s. Now it amounts to E69 15s. In effect, the weekly operating cost of such a vehicle has been increased by 9s. a week. Looked at from the point of view of a fleet operator, a man running 20 such vehicles has to face another £465 a year on his standing costs. With a similar fleet of tandem-axle. 16ton artics, his annual expenditure will go up by around £1,500.
Looked at in this light, these increases are niggling and unnecessary. Goods vehicles already pay far more than their proportionate share of taxation when compared with other road users. Brought down to abasis of cost-per-mile (in the case of the big artic already instanced) the excise licence increase per vehicle is of the order of id. per mile; The most likely result is that Mr. Callaghan will have provided operators—already faced with a substantial wage increase—with valuable propaganda with which to press for higher rates.
This will not force any traffic off the roads. When this becomes apparent what will the Chancellor then do? Raise taxation again?