Ahern told company van tax ‘ludicrous’

THE outgoing chairman of the Small Firms’ Association, Kieran Crowley, called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday to halt the proposed benefit-in-kind tax on company vans.

It was a "ludicrous idea", Mr Crowley told the Taoiseach, who was guest of honour at the SFA's annual lunch.

Mr Crowley was applauded by the 1,300 who turned up for one of the best attended business functions in Dublin this year.

Mr Crowley also took the opportunity to reel off a list of grievances, including the biggest issue of the day the soaring cost of insurance.

There had been much talk about corrective action but no sign of the cost of cover coming down, he said.

Mr Crowley said there were "strong vested interests at play" and they needed to be tackled with a sense of urgency.

It was time for the government to "knock heads together", he added.

In his address, Mr Ahern reminded his audience of the giant strides achieved by the economy over the last 10 years.

It was a success story that was set to continue, he said, adding that it wasn't that long ago when the story was very different:

l In 1991 there were 671,000 households with at least one car. By 2002 that figure had risen to over €1 million.

2 Since 1996 the population had increased by 291,000 or 8% to 3.9 million, with over 2 million living in Leinster.

3 Over 70% of employees now worked in the services sector, with only 25% employed in industry.

Meanwhile, the country had succeeded in halving the cost of servicing the national debt to €420 per person against €800 in 1996.

On the general economic front, he said it was good to see the upturn in the US taking hold. "This is good news for the Irish economy. We must, of course acknowledge that the pace of this recovery remains uncertain.