URGE: Would fuel duty cut aid economy?
Cutting fuel duty by 3p-per-litre would ease pressure on domestic freight activity and stimulate economic growth, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) have insisted.
In their pre-Budget submission to the Chancellor, the Association claim a cut would be as financially beneficial for the government as a freeze, with any income lost retrieved through higher tax receipts.
The FTA previously welcomed George Osborne’s Autumn Statement scrapping of a 1.61p-per-litre fuel duty rise, which was planned to come into force this September.
James Hookham, Managing Director of Policy and Communications at the FTA, said: “The issue of high fuel prices has not gone away, and there are still constraints on growth and economic expansion.
“The Chancellor would give a real boost to balancing the economy by reducing fuel duty by 3p-per-litre.
“FTA’s research shows he would get his money back through higher tax receipts as trade improved and jobs increased.”
The FTA have also insisted the Chancellor must re-instate the duty differential for used cooking oil as a bio-fuel in commercial vehicles.
“With the renewed focus on changes in the climate and the need to reduced greenhouse gas emissions, FTA calls on the Chancellor to recognise the small but measurable contribution that the recycling of used cooking oil can make by converting it into bio-diesel,” added Mr Hookham.
“Reinstating a lower duty rate will make this process financially, as well as environmentally sustainable.”
Mr Osborne will deliver the 2014 Budget statement on March 19.
