TAXATION (ROAD USERS) (Hansard, 11 December 1967)

§ Mr. Edward M. Taylor (Glasgow, Cathcart)
I should like in the few minutes available—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Has the hon. Gentleman given notice to a Minister that he intends to raise a matter?

§ Mr. Taylor
I was coming to that, Mr. Speaker. I gave the Financial Secretary notice, only at 8.41 p.m., that I hoped to raise this question. I apologise to the House for doing it now. I am extremely grateful to the Minister for being willing to come along to the House. I apologise to him for keeping him waiting. I hope that what I have to say will be of some small interest to him.
I wish to raise the question of the burden of tax on private and commercial road users, because at present the Government are considering their future financial policies. While I appreciate that it would be wrong to raise any specific—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Member must realise that if he wants to ease the burden of tax it can be done only by legislation, and he cannot raise the question of legislation on the Adjournment.

§ Mr. Taylor
I was not intending to do that, Mr. Speaker.
As the Minister is considering financial policies at present, I hope that he will bear in mind the question to which I wish to draw his attention, namely, the burden of tax on commercial road users. I hope that today, next year and in future he will keep this matter constantly in mind—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. There is no point in the Minister's keeping it in mind unless he is to improve it by legislation, and legislation is out of order on the Adjournment.

§ Mr. Taylor
Yes, Sir. I just wanted to draw the Financial Secretary's attention to the facts, in the hope that he would take note of the points which I intended to put to him.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I do not want to appear stubborn. The hon. Gentleman must know that on the Adjournment it is in order to raise matters of administration of the Government but not in order to propose reforms of legislation.

§ Mr. Taylor
No, Sir. I was not intending to suggest any reforms of any sort, but simply to draw attention to the specific point which I mentioned to the Minister, and that is the burden of tax on road users. I did not intend to suggest in any way a change in the law or any changes even in administration. I hope it will be in order for me to proceed. If it is not in order, I will sit down. I was simply wanting to draw attention—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The difficulty is that lamentations must be followed by legislation, and it is not in order on the Adjournment to raise matters which can be put right only by changing the law. To change taxation means changing the law.

§ Mr. Taylor
I wanted essentially to draw the Minister's attention to the plight of road users and the burden on them. I wished to raise this, not with the intention that anything specific should be done in any way. I wanted to draw attention, first, to the fact that road users are the great majority of the population and that taxation is a matter of great relevance, particularly as regards prices in development districts and manufacturing facilities in development districts. I did not want in any way to suggest that a change should be made in the present arrangements. Perhaps I can proceed. If it is out of order, I will sit down and apologise to the House.

§ Mr. Speaker
Unless the hon. Gentleman produces something apart from new legislation, he will have to sit down. The purpose of the Adjournment is to raise with a Minister matters for which he is responsible, but not matters which he can put right only by changes in the law. I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman would know that by now.

§ Mr. Taylor
I should have studied the matter in greater detail. Could I draw the Minister's attention to two facts, and two facts only? First, every second family in Britain has a car. This means, on the question of road users and private cars, that every second family in the country is affected. In other words, it is not a question of a minority interest. At present, the question of the costs of transport is directly relevant to the three main avenues of administration for which the Financial Secretary is responsible and has very much in mind at the moment. The first one is the question of development districts and regional development. Clearly the question of the cost of transport is a very vital matter for development districts. I hope that in administering the present tax arrangements the Financial Secretary will bear this very much in mind.
The second matter of which I know that the hon. Gentleman is very conscious at present is the question of the level of prices in Britain. These have been increasing. Obviously we want to prevent further increases. In these circumstances I hope that the hon. Gentleman will bear this in mind in the administration of the taxes on road users. In 1960 the burden of tax on motorists was—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. With all the administration in the world, the Financial Secretary cannot administer a tax out of existence. A law must be brought in to do that. The hon. Gentleman cannot advocate a change in the law on Adjournment.

§ Mr. Taylor
I am sorry, Mr. Speaker. I was not intending to suggest any change in the law. I wanted simply to draw the Minister's attention to a burden which exists, thinking that perhaps he was not fully aware of the extent of this, particularly in development districts.
I will make one final attempt. If this is not in order, I will not proceed. On the question of the burden, I have mentioned that the question of road expenditure is directly relevant. I draw the Financial Secretary's attention to a document which was issued by the British Road Federation and sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer recently when he was considering future administration and policy. This document drew attention to the fact that there were three main countries affecting road users—the United States, Germany and Britain. In 1965 the latest period for which figures are available in the United States round about £5,000 million was spent on roads. The amount raised in taxation from road users was—

§ Mr. Speaker
There is going to be a Budget, I understand, in April. The hon. Member must raise questions of taxation when we come to the Budget. He cannot do it on the Adjournment.

§ Mr. Taylor
I apologise to you, Mr. Speaker, and to the Financial Secretary for taking unnecessarily the time of the House.