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Taxation: Lorries

Volume 489: debated on Tuesday 10 March 2009

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what mechanism is used to determine how much each sub-group of lorries should pay in terms of vehicle excise duty and fuel duty, to ensure that the public costs engendered by their use of the road network are covered in accordance with Government policy; (261874)

(2) whether each sub-group of lorries, according to gross permitted vehicle weight and number of axles, covers the costs to the public purse which they cause in using the road network through the taxation they pay.

Diesel road fuel duty rates are paid by fuel producers rather than users and are therefore not targeted on individual vehicle types and do not distinguish between different end users.

Vehicle excise duty rates for lorries are set to reflect notional differences in the relative impact of vehicle weight on the United Kingdom’s roads network. The Government do not charge vehicle excise duty on the basis of actual road infrastructure costs.