Kennedy balks at calls for NI fuel tax cuts

NIO Minister Jane Kennedy has said that she is not convinced that reducing fuel taxation in the Province would reduce organised crime.

This is despite a report published yesterday by a House of Commons committee that is calling for a full assessment of a fuel tax cut with the aim of reducing fuel smuggling and the laundering of fuel for illegal use in Northern Ireland.

While customs and police have had some success in curtailing these criminal activities, huge quantities of fuel are smuggled and laundered, and so great is the problem that many legitimate fuel retailers have put up signs saying "legal fuel only sold here".

However, the security minister maintained that, if taxes were cut, organised crime would simply turn to other means of revenue generation. She said that this issue had been raised many times before and that fuel tax evasion would not be stopped by reducing the level of taxation. She said the objective remained to disrupt and confiscate profits.

The House of Commons committee report called for "decisive action to stem the tide of lawlessness" and specifically called for an assessment of the effect of a reduction in the differential between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Fuel taxation is a continuing problem for forecourt retailers in the Province and many, particularly those close to the border, have been forced out of business by petrol priced at up to 20p a litre less and diesel costing up to 25p less across the unpatrolled open land border.

(SP)