tail
Media reaction to the 2008 Budget statement, delivered by
Alistair Darling, has focused largely on the fact that the
chancellor is not the most magnetic of personalities. Even the most
hardened economics junkies admitted to feeling a certain sense of
ennui as Darling read out his carefully prepared speech.
Go deeper with GlobalData
“The only chance for a Chancellor to make their budget sexy is
to make a small step in a large direction, such as a substantial
shift to green taxation. But Alastair Darling has done little more
than a step to the left, a step to the right, doing the time warp
again, ending up not so very far from where he started off, and not
facing with much determination in any particular direction,” said
Professor Rodney Barker of the London School of Economics. This is
no less true for fleets than it is for any other sector affected by
the Budget, with some very mixed messages sent out on the
day.
For all the ‘green’ hype before the announcement, many of the
measures that have been brought in regarding emissions taxing have
a strangely tentative feel to them – not good news for fleet
managers who want to know how they should plan for the future. One
thing’s for sure: the manufacturer of a car which officially emits
161g/km of CO2 is quite probably going to see fleet sales fall
sharply. Somehow we can’t imagine seeing the heads of FTSE100
companies being chauffeured around in SMART cars just yet; but how
long can fleets stand the heat? See Budget
2008 for full Budget coverage.
Software systems are the backbone of the modern finance
operation. In our cover story, Brian Rogerson talks to a wide
variety of software houses to find out how financiers and fleets
can best equip themselves for the future through well-planned
implementations (see Survey). Elsewhere, George Grant of
Bank of Scotland Dealer Finance talks us through the changes at the
lender, and its new tripartite structure (More than just
finance).
With very best wishes for the coming month.
Jo Tacon
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By GlobalDataMotor Finance Issue: 41 – March 08
Published for the web: March 26 08 15:34
Last Updated: March 27 08 14:42
