Typicall government action so near yet so far!
Latest from the budget!
THE Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced a 20 pence per litre tax cut for green fuel bioethanol, but there could be scope for further tax breaks to come.
Farmers have said the tax cut is encouraging, but probably still lies outside the drop needed to kick start a biofuels industry.
The green fuel, refined from potatoes, sugar beet or wheat will now be taxed at the same level as biodiesel, which is refined from ****seed.
But the tax break, announced in the Chancellor's pre-budget statement on Wednesday (27 November), is not as generous as the one enjoyed by liquefied petroleum gas, equivalent to 40ppl.
Environment minister Michael Meacher said that the Chancellor's statement did not mean further lobbying from farmers would not succeed in a further cut, however.
"It is a statement of intent," he told a farming audience at a Farmers Weekly Be Ready for Biofuels conference at Peterborough on Wednesday (27 November).
"It does not mean that the Chancellor is completely impervious to further arguments."
Norfolk farmer Marie Skinner said she was doubtful whether 20ppl would be enough to stimulate the £50-60 million investment needed for a bioethanol plant in East Anglia.
"It's enough to give the government all the credit of being shown to do something, but actually probably delivers nothing.
"A drop of 24ppl would have been better – it's so near it's almost frustrating."
But if the Chancellor was to guarantee the break will stay for at least five years, this could be enough to convince investors, she added.
Her preferred solution, delivered in a paper at the Crops Conference near Cambridge on Tuesday (26 November), is a tax-neutral polluter pays plan.
A rise in tax on fossil fuels of less than 0.5ppl would fund a halving of taxes on bioethanol.
This would make a 1:50 bioethanol blend, which would run in any petrol car, cost just under the 100% fossil fuel equivalent.
Latest from the budget!
THE Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced a 20 pence per litre tax cut for green fuel bioethanol, but there could be scope for further tax breaks to come.
Farmers have said the tax cut is encouraging, but probably still lies outside the drop needed to kick start a biofuels industry.
The green fuel, refined from potatoes, sugar beet or wheat will now be taxed at the same level as biodiesel, which is refined from ****seed.
But the tax break, announced in the Chancellor's pre-budget statement on Wednesday (27 November), is not as generous as the one enjoyed by liquefied petroleum gas, equivalent to 40ppl.
Environment minister Michael Meacher said that the Chancellor's statement did not mean further lobbying from farmers would not succeed in a further cut, however.
"It is a statement of intent," he told a farming audience at a Farmers Weekly Be Ready for Biofuels conference at Peterborough on Wednesday (27 November).
"It does not mean that the Chancellor is completely impervious to further arguments."
Norfolk farmer Marie Skinner said she was doubtful whether 20ppl would be enough to stimulate the £50-60 million investment needed for a bioethanol plant in East Anglia.
"It's enough to give the government all the credit of being shown to do something, but actually probably delivers nothing.
"A drop of 24ppl would have been better – it's so near it's almost frustrating."
But if the Chancellor was to guarantee the break will stay for at least five years, this could be enough to convince investors, she added.
Her preferred solution, delivered in a paper at the Crops Conference near Cambridge on Tuesday (26 November), is a tax-neutral polluter pays plan.
A rise in tax on fossil fuels of less than 0.5ppl would fund a halving of taxes on bioethanol.
This would make a 1:50 bioethanol blend, which would run in any petrol car, cost just under the 100% fossil fuel equivalent.