Families get winter reprieve on carbon tax

GAS bills are set to increase, as will the cost of filling up your home heating tank, after a round of carbon tax hikes were announced yesterday.

However, householders will not feel that particular pinch this winter as the carbon tax increase will not become effective until May next year.

A carbon tax increase of €14.40 is to be slapped on every 1,000 litres of kerosene, while every 13,750 kw/h of natural gas will cost an extra €14.46. Homeowners heating their houses with LPG will be paying an extra €9.33 for every 1,000 litres of fuel.

Householders using solid fuel were given a reprieve as coal, briquettes and other solid fuels will not be subject to increases.

Overall, carbon tax on fossil fuels was increased by €5 to €20 per tonne. It is hoped that next year carbon taxes will yield another €108.5 million for the exchequer.

Fianna Fáil said a carbon tax increase on top of cuts to fuel allowance entitlements was “a double blow to the most vulnerable in society”. The party’s social protection spokesman Barry Cowan said that if carbon taxes were increased, fuel allowance should not be cut.

“In addition to this double whammy, the Government has further compounded the pressure on struggling families by an unnecessary 2% VAT increase on other ordinary household costs, from toilet roll to shampoo, that will see many families and old age pensioners struggle to makes ends meet and heat their homes,” he said.

And last night, farmers criticised the carbon tax increases as unfairly affecting country-dwellers.

Gabriel Gilmartin, the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association, said: “The increase in carbon tax is unfortunate notwithstanding the delay on imposing the increased rate on ‘green’ diesel to May 2012 and the double income tax relief.”