<I>Ad valorem</I> landfill tax gets a panning

The Government's proposals for an ad valorem landfill tax have run into a virtually unbroken wall of opposition. Almost all the main respondents favour a banded weight-based tax instead, on environmental, revenue-raising and administrative grounds. The Government is also having to reckon with numerous pleas for exemptions from the tax - with the construction industry leading the way in claiming that it may cause a huge increase in fly-tipping and damage the viability of contaminated land clean-up projects.