Simon Rebstein was speaking in light of Policy & Resources’ proposal that a distance charging mechanism be introduced to ensure financial contribution from all vehicles based on usage.
He preferred the old road tax system, as it did not rely on revenue from fuel.
‘Personally I think to introduce this usage tax would be an administrative nightmare and would mean increasing the size of the civil service, creating more of a burden on the taxpayer and defeating the object of its introduction.’
The usage tax has not yet been agreed and Mr Rebstein said he hoped it fell at the first hurdle.
Leon Gallienne, president of the Guernsey Taxi Federation, said he, too, was against the ‘badly thought out’ proposal.
‘If [P&R] had come and spoken to businesses out here they would probably get a better idea of what might work and what might not from the people it will hit the hardest.
‘We [taxi drivers] are struggling as it is to get more drivers, we’re working longer hours and this will put even more strain on us.
‘On a number of occasions we are being hit the hardest and there’s only so much we can take.’
Mr Gallienne thought taxing fuel would be best, although P&R has said that at some point in the future, the proportion of vehicles using motor fuel would decline to an extent that a distance charging mechanism could be used.
Martin Langlois, general manager of Ferryspeed, also said the existing system of taxing fuel was a better option. ‘Taxing by vehicle usage will have a significant effect on the cost of operation on the island, unless P&R have thought of a way to discount it for businesses.’
Ferryspeed handles deliveries to shops of food that comes into the island daily, as well as being responsible for the delivery of other goods.
‘We have no choice but to be on the road, making multiple drops, as chilled, frozen and ambient goods cannot be delivered together.
‘Firms like ours are beingpenalised in this situation and we are being expected to take it up as part of our costs, but those costs are becoming unreasonable [and] any future additional costs will have to be passed on to customers,’ Mr Langlois said.
He also questioned how taxing vehicles by their usage would be monitored.
You need to be logged in to comment.