Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Lib Dems unveil 'green' motoring tax plan
A raft of 'green' transport taxes have been backed by the Liberal Democrats at this week's party conference in Brighton, designed to put Britain on a carbon neutral footing by 2050. Additionally, the Liberal Democrats have backed calls to ban all petrol cars by 2040. The taxes include:
An increase in the top rate of Vehicle Excise Duty from £300 to £2,000, while the lowest two bands would be zero-rated Freight companies paying tolls to transport goods by roads.
The cash raised would be ploughed into a future 'transport fund' - road tolls, it is estimated, would raise £600m - which would be used to raise a capital sum of £12 billion extra to spend on rail projects, including a new high north-south high speed line. The tax-raising move was part of a discussion around a Liberal Democrat paper entitled 'Towards Carbon Free Transport'. The paper set out a target of zero emissions from cars by 2040 and said that positive incentives to tempt people away from cars were not enough to achieve the carbon cuts needed. The 'green' policies will now become part of the Liberal Democrat manifesto at the next general election
DATED: 18.09.07
FEED: AW
An increase in the top rate of Vehicle Excise Duty from £300 to £2,000, while the lowest two bands would be zero-rated Freight companies paying tolls to transport goods by roads.
The cash raised would be ploughed into a future 'transport fund' - road tolls, it is estimated, would raise £600m - which would be used to raise a capital sum of £12 billion extra to spend on rail projects, including a new high north-south high speed line. The tax-raising move was part of a discussion around a Liberal Democrat paper entitled 'Towards Carbon Free Transport'. The paper set out a target of zero emissions from cars by 2040 and said that positive incentives to tempt people away from cars were not enough to achieve the carbon cuts needed. The 'green' policies will now become part of the Liberal Democrat manifesto at the next general election
DATED: 18.09.07
FEED: AW
