Fuel hikes may be the new water charges

IT comes as little surprise that 60% of voters are opposed to the prospective increase in fuel tax.

The Irish Daily Mail/Ireland Thinks poll published today shows widespread opposition, particularly outside the capital and other urban areas, and while a majority of well-meaning students support such tax increases, many have yet to enter the workforce and so their experience of the tax burden isn’t exactly vast.

On the flip side, the vast majority of middle-aged people are opposed to such measures, perhaps reflecting the grave financial strain many in this group find themselves already under with tax demands, mortgage repayments and family outgoings.

In this, it is obvious that fuel tax – or ‘carbon’ tax, as the Government prefers to call it – has the potential to be a flashpoint on the scale of water charges, especially since opposition is greatest among supporters of the left. As we have seen in France, the violent ‘Yellow Vest’ protests were sparked by similar moves there.

The problem the Government faces is that this is a regressive tax, in that it disproportionately targets bigger families and those living in older homes.

Despite the availability of grants, many occupiers of properties built decades before modern construction standards and minimum energy ratings simply cannot afford their own share of the cost of doubleor triple-glazing, external wall cladding, and attic insulation. The Government has promised that the money raised will be used to increase child benefit and would reward low-carbon houses with monetary reward, but again, that will play mostly to those in newer homes.

No-one disputes that action is needed on climate change, and it also will benefit noone if Ireland faces massive fines for failing in its Paris climate accord obligations. That accepted, we need a fairer system in imposing the tax, with credits for larger families that need to turn heating on in more rooms than those living alone, and for those who during the boom were forced to move further from their workplaces.

Otherwise, the fuel tax is a blunt instrument that will benefit only those political parties that want to pay for nothing.