In what will be perceived as a concession to the quarry industry, Gordon Brown decided to freeze the Aggregates Levy – the tax on the use of primary aggregates – at 1.60 per tonne.
The decision to freeze the levy will make the job of organisations such as the Waste and Resources Action Programme more difficult in urging the construction industry to make more use of recycled aggregates.
The Chancellor's Budget statement said that early indications were that the levy was achieving its objectives, with the production of virgin aggregates decreasing by 5.7% between 2001 and 2002.
It said: “The government continues to monitor the impact of the levy to ensure that it is achieving its objectives, and will continue to discuss with the aggregate and construction industries their concerns about the impact of the levy.”
Bland
Elsewhere, in a Budget commentators have described as “bland”, the Chancellor froze the Climate Change Levy, and announced that the Landfill Tax would go up by 1 to 15 a tonne as expected. The lower rate of Landfill Tax, for inactive such as soil that does not give off emissions, is to be kept at 2 a tonne.
The Landfill Tax, the tax on material sent to landfill, will rise by 3 in 2005-06 and by 3 each year until it reaches a 35 a tonne level in the “medium to long-term”, the Budget confirmed.
The Chancellor highlighted the 16% reduction in waste received at landfill sitesfrom 1997-98 to 2002-03.
Today's Budget also saw an increase in the maximum credit that landfill site operators may claim against their annual Landfill Tax liability from 6.5% to 6.8%.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has pointed out that the Budget's announcement that the Landfill Allowance Trading Schemes is “due to be introduced in 2006” is a typographical error, and confirmed that the LATS is to be introduced in 2005.
Red diesel
This year's Budget increased the duty on red diesel and fuel oil by 2.42 pence per litre, which will come into effect from September 1, 2004.
The government said this would reduce the difference between rebated oils and main road fuels by 1 penny per litre to 40.88 pence per litre, supporting its “strategic approach for reducing oils fraud”.
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