Government is shooting itself in the foot with array of green taxes, says EEF

The current system of energy taxation is too complex and is hurting Britain’s competitiveness, fails to drive up investment or lower emissions in a significant way and is damaging Britain’s competitiveness. A decade of tinkering had left businesses strangled by red tape and energy bills that were much higher than those faced by European competitors. The manufacturers’ organisation said tax breaks and not tax hikes were the only way to keep Britain at the forefront of innovation while lowering emissions. The EEF also called on the Government to scrap the complex Carbon Reduction Committment (CRC) an energy efficiency scheme that it said would cost businesses £900m this year alone but translate into just £334m of investment over the next decade.