PEOPLE power has persuaded Environment Minister Freddie Cohen to drop plans for an emissions tax on vehicles.
After public response to the green tax was overwhelmingly negative, Senator Cohen has decide not to go ahead with the idea. However, motorists may still have to pay more in future through extra duty on petrol. Senator Freddie Cohen says that any funds collected that way must be ringfenced for environmental initiatives. His decision is based on the results of a public consultation paper which he and Treasury Minister Terry Le Sueur released to see whether the public would be willing to accept an environmental tax and, if so, in what form. Under the original scheme, the first £4 million a year of any environment tax collected would have been used to replace the income from vehicle registration duty, which is being scrapped with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax next year. However, Senator Cohen now believes that any environment tax should be solely for that purpose and the VRD replacement funds should be collected in some other way. He said: ‘We now know what people want, and it is not a vehicle emissions duty because that is not a user-pays system.’
Article posted on 14th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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