Michael McGrath: Review €385m carbon tax

There is a strong case for a review of the carbon tax, Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath has said.

Deputy McGrath made the comments as Finance Minister Michael Noonan confirmed that €385m was collected through the carbon tax in 2014.

Deputy McGrath said that the carbon tax takes in almost as much money as the local property tax and considerably more than water charges will raise, yet is rarely the subject of public debate.

“Given the very significant amount of money involved, there is a strong case for a review of the implementation of the tax to date, particularly the impact on low- income families from the extension of it to coal and turf,” he said.

Figures provided by Minister Noonan show that last year the Revenue Commissioners collected €144.86 million in carbon tax from diesel and €65.69m in revenues from petrol.

Kerosene raised €42.28m; natural gas raised €51.68m and sales of marked gas oil contributed €54m.

The €385m raised from the tax overall in 2014 was marginally down from the €388.38m the tax raised in 2013.

In his written Dáil response, Minister Noonan said the carbon tax has positively influenced behaviour and generated much needed revenue for the exchequer.

“The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has also published a number of reports evaluating the impact of the carbon tax, notably the Energy in the Residential Sector Report 2013,” he said.

“This report showed that average energy-related CO2 emissions per dwelling fell by 24% since 2006.

"During the same period the average spend per household fell by 2.3%, even though the weighted average fuel price increase in that period was 37%.”

Minister Noonan said the tax was “a key tool” towards meeting Ireland’s climate change commitments.