Quarry levy threat
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• Aggregates hauliers could face a bleak future if a new quarry tax comes into play next year, the British Aggregates Association (BAA) has warned.
The 11.60/tonne aggregates levy will apply to sand, gravel and crushed rock; it will affect companies "commercially exploiting aggregate in the UK" or importing it from abroad (CM, 30 March-5 April 2000).
BAA director Robert Durward warns that the tax will drive concrete manufacturing out Of Britain: "No other country in Western Europe pays this tax— the big quarries will just move their operations to places such as France, Holland and Spain." Finished, pre-cast concrete products such as building blocks, paving stones and roof tiles will not be subject to an import tax so they could be manufactured abroad and shipped back to the UK.
Jerry McLaughlin of the Quarry Products Association (QPA) agrees: "Hauliers working at local quarries could be hit pretty hard as there will be less material to shift around."
Both associations are lobbying against the aggregates tax in different ways. The QPA is seeking an 80% rebate for "environmental performance" but the BAA insists that this approach is over-complicated.