TAX PROPOSAL WILL STICK US IN REVERSE

MOTOR industry stakeholders say new tax proposals will not reduce the huge number of older, higher- polluting cars on the road and will greatly hamper both Ireland’s ability to reach its climate change targets.

Brian Cooke, the Director General of the Society of Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), says he is deeply concerned at the recent proposals from the Tax Strategy Group ( TSG) which are retrograde, regressive and run counter to efforts to materially reduce transport emissions.

The proposed tax changes would see an increase in price of the vast majority of new electric vehicles and lower emitting new family cars, encouraging people to keep their older more polluting cars for longer, thus maintaining and possibly even adding to the current number of 900,000 cars over 10 years old already on Irish roads.

These proposals will, he says, undoubtedly impact negatively on Ireland’s ability to reach its climate change targets.

SIMI says that at a time when the Government wants people to move into electric vehicles (EVs), the TSG’s proposed recommendations include an increase in Vehicle Registration Tax ( VRT) on EVs by an average of €1,500, with some of the more popular family models receiving a price hike as a result of up to € 2,800.

CONCERN: Brian Cooke, Director General of SIMI Increase

Other new cars, even those with much lower emissions than cars currently on the road, would also suffer an average tax increase of over € 1,300, despite already being targeted in last year’s

Budget.

These proposed tax increases would mean that consumers will have to pay more tax next year to make better environmental choices, they say.