Leading industry figures comment on Pre-Budget Report
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling MP, is due to address the House of Commons tomorrow, December 9, to outline the Government’s financial plans in the important Pre-Budget Report – the so-called “mini-budget”. With the state of the nation’s finances under scrutiny the Chancellor is expected to announce a range of cost cutting measures in a bid to rein in public spending.
While the collective wisdom is predicting cost cutting measures in Whitehall, windfall taxes on banker’s bonuses, and public sector worker pay freezes, what impact will any announcements have on the automotive industry?
Speculation is mounting that the Chancellor could take the opportunity to announce new incentives for company car drivers to ditch the internal combustion engine and switch to an electric powered car, Vehicle Excise Duty is also expected to be mentioned in the report but could Mr Darling also spring a surprise or two in what is the last chance for the Government to outline spending plans before the next General Election in 2010?
We asked a selection of industry figures two questions:
- What is the one thing which you would like to see included in the Budget?
- And what is the one thing you don’t want to see included?
Fleet management company, CLM, would like the Government to continue its commitment to a CO2-based BIK tax regime and would like to see further reductions in carbon emission limits to 140g/km in the Pre-Budget Report.
Tony Hulatt, managing director at the independently owned fleet management specialist based near Milton Keynes, which manages in excess of 20,000 vehicles for corporate clients, believes this will help to encourage further green fleet policy development.
“We have been steering our fleet clients towards a gradual reduction in CO2 limits as part of their green fleet policies and would like to see further fiscal encouragement for this approach,” he said.
However, Tony Hulatt was adamant that road pricing should not be a key plank of the Government’s future transport strategy.
“What we most definitely do not want to see is the introduction of whole scale road pricing, as we believe that motorists generally pay more than enough for their driving through fuel excise duty which is already at record levels.
“We believe that more of the monies raised through fuel duty should be re-invested in the road infrastructure, and that further charges for the use of our roads are both inflationary and unnecessary,” he said.
Jason Francis, managing director of fleet management software specialists Jaama. As a certified Microsoft development partner, Jaama uses the latest technology to provide customers with greater integration, control and automation. It brings innovative vehicle management software to fleet operators, contract hire and leasing companies.
“Scrapping the Government’s planned 0.5% increase on employers’ National Insurance contributions which is going to hit businesses at the very time when they need all the help they can get is the one thing which we would like to see announced in the pre-budget report.”
“While the last thing we would like to see is a further increase in fuel duty. Fuel duty has surged 20% during 2009 and on top of the 2.5% VAT increase could threaten the fragile economic recovery.”
Andrew Leech, business manager at fleet software solutions specialist Mycompanyfleet, the fleet and automotive division of HR solutions provider, NorthgateArinso, would like to see the introduction of a direct correlation between road taxes and investment in the UK’s roads infrastructure in the Pre-Budget Report.
“If we had greater hypothecation of road taxes with roads infrastructure, instead of this money being used to fund other areas of Government expenditure, it would represent a much more equitable use of motorists’ money. Motorists would then stop seeing road taxes as a stealth tax, and our infrastructure would be greatly improved.
“What we do not want to see, as it is a continued upward pressure on costs for all fleet operators at a time of economic difficulty, is the continuation of the fuel price escalator that this Government seems committed to. Fuel tax is planned to increase for the next three years by 1% above the rate of inflation each year, yet fuel tax now represents 75% of the retail price of fuel.”
Read about the Pre-Budget Report on FleetDirectory.co.uk tomorrow.
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