Quarry Products Association blasts decision to index link aggregates levy

The Quarry Products Association (QPA) has blasted the government’s decision to index link the Aggregates Levy in 2009 as “environmentally and economically perverse”.

Responding to next year's 5p increase – a 25% increase in the Levy in two years – QPA director general Simon van der Byl said: “The government claims that the Aggregates Levy is being increased ‘to maintain its environmental impact’, but as it has yet to produce any evidence of the green benefits of the tax, there is no justification for the increases.”

The association added that it has been asking the government since the introduction of the Levy in 2002 for environmental benchmarks with which to monitor its effectiveness. 

Such benchmarks or assessments have been refused by Whitehall, said the QPA, although the government continues to claim significant environmental benefits.

"These claims are nothing more than greenwash,” said Van der Byl. “The ratcheting-up of the Aggregates Levy will generate increasing tax revenues of £75m in 2008/9 and £85m in 2009/10, compared with 2007/8.

“These costs will ultimately be paid by construction clients, including the government, in effect transferring money from the transport, social housing, schools and hospital budgets back to the Treasury".

"The irony is that the environmental performance of the industry has continued to improve in recent years, for example evidenced by the increasing recognition of the industry's contribution to creation of wildlife habitats and biodiversity through site restoration.

“Unfortunately the methodology used by the government to create the Levy in the first place assumed that quarry restoration generates nil social or environmental benefits. The bizarre consequence is that as the industry's environmental performance improves, the level of this perverse environmental taxation increases."