Scooter tax: UK government should show moral leadership
Posted, June 29, 2009 @ 00:00
The UK representative at the EU's Customs committee should oppose plans to retain a 10 percent import duty on mobility scooters when it votes on the matter this Wednesday, Syed Kamall MEP, Conservative international trade spokesman, said today.
Currently the customs code classifies mobility scooters as 'motor vehicles for the transport of persons' rather than 'carriages for disabled persons', therefore attracting a 10 percent import duty.
The European Commission has proposed that the classification continue, but campaigners including Professor Stephen Hawking have called for the scooters to be recognised for what they are.
The British government has said it is intending to support the commission, citing global customs practice. However Dr Kamall has called on the government to oppose the move.
He said:
"Mobility scooters are clearly only used by disabled people and they are an expensive piece of equipment for many disabled and elderly people to afford. We should be doing everything within our power to make them cheaper, not to put them out of the reach of people who need them for their independence.
"Rather than taxing the disabled and elderly more, the government should be standing up for the most vulnerable in society.
"The British government and the EU should show moral leadership and attempt to change this warped global practice, rather than hiding behind it. The EU's trade policies are too often distorted against businesses and consumers and nothing illustrates that better than this tax."