APPENDIX 10
Memorandum submitted by IBEC/CBI Joint
Business Council
I am writing on behalf of the IBEC/CBI Joint
Business Council to confirm our support for the case to reduce
Excise Duty on motor fuels in Northern Ireland to a similar level
applying in the Republic of Ireland.
The reasons for supporting such a measure are,
to a large extent, self-evident but can be summarised as follows:
— The fact that Northern Ireland has
a land border with the Republic of Ireland and duty and taxes
on motor fuels in the UK amount to approximately 82 per cent of
the pump price and only approximately 66 per cent in the Republic
is creating a major trade distortion between the two markets in
favour of the Republic;
— The consequences are a catastrophic
loss of business for service station operators and their suppliers
in Northern Ireland, the loss of a vital service for many local
communities and a loss of as much as £200 million for the
UK Exchequer in 1999;
— The overall loss of trade to border
towns in Northern Ireland, which is being driven in its entirety
by this price distortion, has far-reaching consequences for all
traders in these communities, quite simply because people travelling
south for motor fuel purchase a great deal of other items that
would otherwise be bought in the north as well;
— The price differential between the
two markets is leading to widespread smuggling with consequential
implications of a most serious nature for the people of Northern
Ireland.
5 May 1999
|
