COMPANIES believe new transport taxes including motorway tolls, VED grading according to car engine size and taxing inner-city office parking spaces will have little impact on their environmental performance. The 1997 UK Business & The Environment Trends Survey, carried out among the top 1,000 UK companies and 50 leading opinion formers on business and environmental issues, was sponsored by environmental consultancy Entec in association with The Green Alliance, an environmental pressure group.

Asked about the impact of taxes and charges on environmental performance the survey found:

  • 57% of respondents said motorway tolls would not improve environmental performance while 17% said they would.
  • 41% said a tax on inner-city office parking spaces would not improve environmental performance while 14% said it would.
  • 44% said VED grading according to car engine size would not improve environmental performance while 29% said it would.