New clause 12 - Environmental protection rebates scheme
Finance Bill
6:45 pm
Mr Malcolm Bruce (Gordon, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
The Committee will be aware that we debated this matter on the Floor of the House but were unable to debate the new clause. Many of us remain concerned about the slightly crude impact of the aggregates tax without any compensation and adjustment for the environmental impact. Representing, as I do, a rural constituency in Scotland, I am aware that there is a particular concern that the crudely imposed tax will fall disproportionately on those quarries that can produce at lower cost because it is a cash tonnage figure rather than a percentage. It penalises the more efficient operators. It may also cause smaller operators to be squeezed out in favour of the larger operators. As a consequence, the local authorities in the rural parts of the north of Scotland and the borders, which own many of these quarries, will find that the costs will go up from a squeezed revenue base with no offsetting benefit.
The clause would introduce a scheme to allow rebates for environmental improvements. I do not wish to detain the Committee, but this is important. I hope that the Minister can at least acknowledge that this concern continues and that there is a worry that the claimed environmental benefits of the tax will not turn out as the Government expect. I hope that the Government will be prepared to review the workings of the tax and to reconsider this proposal to ensure that a tax that is being introduced for claimed environmental reasons turns out to be environmental. There are many who believe that it will not. At the end of the day, it will be catalogued as just another stealth tax, just another opportunity to raise revenue from a particular sector that will cost local authorities money and will not achieve environmental gain. If the clause were adopted, environmental gain would be a condition of the implementation of the tax.