Tolling our roads - A tax too far

NO political party has gone to the polls suggesting it might introduce tolls on our roads, so if this is still a democracy of sorts, the reality is that no party has a mandate to introduce them. Yet the air is thick with suggestions that the country’s roads and tunnels will be extensively tolled.

This is unacceptable on so many levels. Already a huge proportion of transport costs are made up of taxes; VAT, VRT, something around 70% on fuel, road tax and other levies on insurance and parking costs. Not to mention wear and tear caused by poor secondary roads.

In recent years, predicting the gap between a tender and the final price for roadworks became almost a national sport. If tolls are needed to sustain this kind of mismanagement then they must be opposed.

Extra revenues are needed in these difficult times but motorists, who more often than not are just people going to work, have already paid more than their share.