Fuel tax take ‘driving hauliers to wall’

The Government earned over €2 billion last year in excise duty on fuel alone, accounting for nearly 30% of all of the money spent on fuel in Ireland last year.

The president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, Eoin Gavin, said the tax take was driving Irish road hauliers to the wall and losing the government money.

Mr Gavin said hauliers with international fleets were engaging in “tanker tourism” and filling their tanks abroad.

Mr Gavin said two of his trucks were heading out of the country on fumes and they would fill-up abroad. The exchequer loses €600 per tank of petrol filled up by international haulers abroad. Mr Gavin called on the Government to introduce a fuel rebate for haulage operators here.

“We’re looking for an essential user rebate for road haulage users. A 15c per litre rebate on excise, which would level the playing field with other EU countries. The initiative would cost the Government €90 million in lost duty, but they are currently losing about €130m a year due to trucks filling up abroad,” he said.

Mr Gavin said there was already an EU directive in place that would allow the Government introduce a rebate for the haulage companies. The association has a meeting with the Minister of Finance on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of a rebate for truckers.

Mr Gavin compared the proposed essential users rebate to the corporate tax rate. He said the rebate could encourage international haulage firms to fill their tanks in Ireland. A survey carried out by the association estimates Revenue would earn a further €80m a year from tanker tourism if a rebate was introduced.

As it stands, fuel costs take up about 50% of a haulier’s costs. Mr Gavin said this isn’t sustainable and it has already forced the closure of a number of haulage businesses. A rebel section of the association is threatening to block ports if the Government doesn’t agree to demands for a rebate.

“There’s a militant element who want to block the ports to force this through. If they are going out of business in six months they want to have one last hurrah,” he said.

Sinn Féin TD, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, said that the Government should do everything they can to help hauliers.

“The figures reflect the severe difficulties cased to hauliers and to the wider economy by rising fuel costs,” he said.