Committee told ending VRT would double road tax

ROAD tax would jump to €960 a year if we dropped Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) on new cars, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday. Currently, the average road tax is €400.

And replacing VRT with higher fuel taxes would increase prices at the pump by over 20 cents a litre.

Department of Finance official John Burke gave this information to the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, meeting to consider EU proposals on passenger car-related taxes.