Green tax is simply highway robbery
Friday December 14 2007
I agree completely with Michael Canny ('Greens car tax misses the point', Letters, December 10).
Having done my best to understand the new motor tax regime, the only thing I can say for certain is that I am confused. In the midst of the pre-Budget cryptic clues about 'carbon emissions', I consulted a friend in the UK who drives a 2.4 litre car.
His wife drives a 1.4 litre, and the tax for the two of them combined, per year, is £300. In other words, €415 for the two cars. Britain already operates a system linked to carbon emissions, so nothing different there.
It would be nice to think that being greener and cleaner might mean that motor tax is not three times the price of greener and cleaner motoring in the UK, but this is never going to happen. Despite Cowen's PR waffle about no increases in motor tax since 2004, it increased viciously in the years before that -- in one go actually doubling. The fundamental problem is, the polluter will not pay.
To this end I have one simple question to ask. Mr and Mrs Jones own cars, both 2.0 litre. Mr Jones does 60,000 miles per year, his wife does 12,000 miles per year. Which is worse for the environment? They will both cost the same on motor tax. The insurance industry works off a similarly daft 'logic'. Doing 5,000 or 50,000 miles per year costs the exact same. Makes one wonder about risk assessment.
So one can drive all around Ireland all day every day and the increased risk and pollution cost the same as someone who goes to the shops and back, not polluting much and unlikely to crash. Where has the love of statistics gone here?
Our politicians have obviously become so cynical that they figure a slump in construction revenue can be bridged by the goose that lays the golden egg once more -- the good old reliable motorist. We Irish seem happy enough as long as we can get by and keep our heads above water, no matter how ridiculous the charge. Politicians have sensed this long ago, and operate accordingly. In the UK, people demand value and hold politicians to account.
This lot are making the car a 'luxury item' like it was in the 1980s, while talking down to people about being 'More European' (where owning a car is not akin to a crime).
ANTHONY HALPIN
BRAY, CO WICKLOW
- BRAY, CO WICKLOW
