Shipping: Light Dues
House of Lords
Lord Berkeley (Labour)
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Office for National Statistics' reclassification of light dues as a tax will lead to an investigation into whether a full "user pays" system should be adopted; and, if not, whether a calculation has been made by HM Treasury of the lost revenue from leisure craft which use aids to navigation around the coast of the British Isles.
Earl Attlee (Whip, House of Lords; Conservative)
Her Majesty's Government consider that current light dues arrangements are based on a practical application of the "user pays" principle. No reasonably practicable system for identifying and charging light dues to small leisure vessels has been identified, so no calculation of potential income from this source is possible. Large leisure craft already pay light dues.