On 2008-03-16 10:05:36 +0000, "Dave Plowman (News)"
said:

In article 47dcec04@qaanaaq,
Andy Hall wrote:
But you don't take a tractor to a filling station. Discounting fuel
from an ordinary filling station for certain users would be a
nightmare to implement and police. I can just imagine all the moans on
here if they put up the price of fuel even more to cover the loss of
VED income.

I wasn't particularly suggesting there. This is something that could
easily be handled through the VAT system for road transport users.

But they already reclaim VAT on fuel?

Yes I know. Sorry I should have been clearer. The VAT processing
system - i.e. measuring and reporting of input and output taxes means
that businesses have to report their expenditure on fuel in order to
recover the VAT. That mechanism already exists. All that would then
be required would be for qualifying businesses to receive additional
refund for their fuel expenditure over and above what they paid in VAT.
This would have the effect of reducing their net fuel cost and
compensating for an increased duty in the general market.