Tax vehicle use — not ownership

THE Department of Transport’s 2020 Vision for Sustainable Transport includes a comment that Ireland had the fifth lowest petrol tax excise rate in the EU prior to its latest enlargement.

The report is silent on the fact that Ireland also had one of the highest annual motor tax rates in EU-15.

A report issued by the Commission for Integrated Transport in Britain says Ireland has the second highest taxes on vehicle ownership out of 14 European countries surveyed, while we have the third lowest taxes on use.