Carbon tax to cost farmers €24m annually

THE carbon tax introduced a year ago will cost farmers €24 million per year, according to Teagasc calculations – nearly twice the expected extra revenue for the Government from sales of agricultural diesel.

The Teagasc analysis estimated that the average increase across all farms, including the carbon levy on all fuel types, will average €225 per farm. This takes account of the price increase for all fuel and lubricants used by farmers, agricultural contractors, hauliers, machinery hire and transport, including fuel in their private cars. In the analysis, no change in fuel use by farmers is assumed.

For marginal or loss-making farm enterprises, the tax is an additional burden making survival more difficult, said Teagasc researchers at the recent Agricultural Economics Society of Ireland annual conference.