Revenue rakes in €300m less in VRT

GOVERNMENT revenue has taken another battering as figures show it raked in €300 million less in vehicle registration tax (VRT) last year from imported cars.

The VRT take in 2008 was down from €1.4bn in 2007 to €1.1bn, according to the Revenue Commissioners.

It could not give a breakdown on how much was collected from new or used cars, but said 55,819 second-hand cars were imported last year compared with 53,156 in 2007.