Call for hiking boot tax in Budget

From the BBC:

Leading safety campaigners are calling for a £20-per-pair levy on hiking boots to be included in this year's Budget.

More than 60 organisations, including the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents, are backing the recommendation by charity Mountain Rescue. They say it would raise £1 bn a year in duty to fund computer games and gentler indoor pursuits to cut down the risk of people dying of exposure or being killed by an rock slide.

The hiking boot industry says raising taxation is unnecessary. The British Shoe & Boot Association (BSBA) says companies are already playing their part in the fight against early and accidental deaths.

The BSBA's director general Gavin Partington said 61% of hikers "do not take unnecessary risks and we have seen manufacturers and retailers lead the way in committing to further, voluntary action to educate walkers and climbers on keeping safe as part of the government's Responsibility Deal acccident-reduction pledge."

He said £10 from every £60 pair of boots already goes to the government in tax.

"Putting up taxes even further will put pressure on people's purses at a time when they can ill afford it," he said.

A spokesman for RoSPA said that there had been a spate of deaths in British mountains recently, and in all instances, the victim had been found wearing hiking boots. Rescue and recovery operations cost the NHS and emergency services up to £6 billion a year.