Robert Sturdy urges UK govt not to hit disabled people with scooter tax
Euro MP Robert Sturdy has urged the UK’s representative at the EU’s Customs Committee to oppose plans to retain a 10 per cent import duty on mobility scooters when it votes on this issue tomorrow.
Protesters against the European Commission’s proposals include the world famous Cambridge based physicist Professor Stephen Hawking, who described the levy as “disgraceful”.
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 British government has said it is intending to support the Commission, citing global customs practice.
Mr Sturdy said:
“Rather than unjustly taxing our Eastern Region’s disabled and elderly, the British Government should be doing all it can support them.
“Everybody knows that these mobility scooters are only used by the disabled and elderly. They are a costly piece of equipment for many, without the extra burden of EU tax.
“For some elderly and disabled people a scooter is their only means of getting out and about, enabling them to live independent lives. Frankly I think that the Government should be ashamed. They should be fighting this outrageous EU tax, not supporting it.”
