A very clever chancellor (UK Petrol Prices)

Name: buchanan17

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Product:	UK Petrol Prices
Date:	09/11/00 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some duty cuts

Disadvantages: Some duty cuts

Say what you like about Gordon "Prudent" Brown - and i will say plenty of things about his taxation policies - he has been very clever on the fuel tax issues.

Stealth taxes abound - my married couples allowance has gone - I do not benefit from the "replacement" childrens allowance or whatever. Other little taxes have appeared and we now have the highest overall taxation levels for years. He, and his crony Tony, make us think that it is they who are being generous with our money...

Leaving all that aside, how clever they were to come up with cuts in fuel duty that weren't really direct cuts! Most diesel used by hauliers is already low sulphur - so a duty cut of 3 pence. In time - a year perhaps - unleaded will also become low sulphur, so as long as the petrol companies don't charge more for it - another cut in fuel prices.

Yet, they weren't cuts! They were done on "environmental" grounds, and they stole the thunder from the tories.

Cuts in car tax on engines under 1500cc is also clever - many households will have a car that falls in to this category (not mine, unfortunately).

I am uneasy on the charging for foreign lorries on our roads - probably fall foul of the EU, will provoke tit for tat actions, and will probably cost more to administer effectively than it will raise. That bit of his package is wrong - purely political and makes no common sense. Apart from that he is appeasing the lorry drivers more than the normal motorist as it is they - the hauliers - who have more ability to bring the country to a halt again.

But whatever your views on brown and Albour, you have to admire how clever they - and in particular he - can be at times.

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