FAIR TAX NOT FUEL TAX
November 17, 2004 12:00 AM
Local MP John Thurso yesterday highlighted the injustice of fuel costs in the North in the House of Commons. Speaking during Transport Questions, he asked the Minister what the Government was doing to promote National Road User Charging as an alternative to fuel tax saying it would "address the blatant injustice whereby motorists in remote rural areas with no congestion pay more than motorists in urban areas with congestion. What is the government doing to promote National Road User Charging and when will we replace fuel tax with fair tax?"
Responding, Roads Minister David Jamieson, MP, said that the Government was actively considering a feasibility study commissioned earlier this year and that he hoped cross-party consensus could be reached.
Speaking after the exchange, John Thurso said:
"The feasibility study makes clear the many advantages for the whole nation of switching to a system of National Road User Charging. First, it can specifically tackle congestion - a 4% reduction in traffic would produce a 45% reduction in congestion - and, secondly, it means that 80% of road users would actually pay less. For the far North, it would mean an end to the fuel price premium and allow for more reasonably priced motoring."
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