Pre-Budget Report reveals little about aggregates levy

THE Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report last month shed little light on the long-term future of the aggregates levy, but did at least put to rest fears of a removal of the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF), says the Quarry Products Association.

Doubts remain, however, as to just how much will be available through the fund in 2007/8, with the Report simply announcing that it will be ‘extended’. The QPA, which continues to oppose the aggregates levy on the grounds that the nominally green tax is having little impact on improving environmental standards, says that if the tax is to stay, the ALSF should remain in place and not be subject to further unexplained cuts from Defra.

As for the levy itself, the Chancellor mentioned in his Pre-Budget Report that ‘the Government will continue to work with industry stakeholders and consider the appropriate level for future rates at Budget 2007’. The inference from this statement is that the Treasury could be shaping up to adjust the level of the tax, and the QPA says it will be following this up with the Treasury.

Commenting on the Pre-Budget Report, Simon van der Byl, director general of the QPA, said the Report did not shed a great deal of light on the tax situation for the industry, but did at least commit to maintaining the ALSF, which was good news for communities living in quarrying areas. However, with hints that the levy may increase but no real detail on the amount of funding that would be available in the ALSF pot next year, Mr van der Byl said the Association still had work to do to make sure that industry and local communities received the fairest treatment possible.