Tax exemption plan

09 October 2000 00:00  [Source: ICB]

BOC, Air Products and the Energy Intensive Users Group held a joint briefing at the recent UK Labour Party conference to raise support for their industry's exemption from the government's proposed Climate Change Levy (CCL).

The gases industry operates air separation plants which consume 1% of the UK's annual electricity production.

They claim to have spent millions of pounds on new plants over the past five years to keep energy usage to a minimum, but plants were now close to their thermodynamic limits, leaving limited scope for further efficiency gains.

BOC and Air Products claim the CCL will increase their industry tax bill by £13m ($19.2m) in the first 12 months from April 2001. This would be passed down the line to customers, damaging their competitiveness in the face of tough international competition.

Questioned about the briefing, a spokesperson for BOC said: 'It had gone as well as one would expect.' Exemption from this 'unfair taxation was raised in the right way' and the briefing had secured the agreement of at least two MPs for the cause.

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