Higher road tax for big engined cars in the Budget?

junkyard

I heard a rumor this evening that cars with large engines are going to be loaded with road tax in the Budget. I don't know how true it is but its really going to f**k things up for people with cars over 3 litres. Its a good job I've got trade plates.

paddy

Does that mean smaller cars get less tax?

kleefarr

Does that mean rises for engines 3ltrs and over then and no others? (fingers crossed)

Seth Brundle

If it happens just remember it next June!

Do-more

junkyard wrote:

Its a good job I've got trade plates.

No Sunday drives in the V8's so!!!;)

junkyard

I'll take the 4x4 out on Sundays.;) It actually works out cheaper to pay the fines for no tax than to tax the car.....think about it.:)

mike65

Would'nt belive any pre-budget talk tbh. Actually the details are usually all leaked by now but so far Cowen and his dept have played it striaght. The only change I know of is the VRT breaks for SUV hybrids are being canned.

Mike.

Captain Trips

That would be a backwards step and still ignorant of the issue of taxing cars for a real purpose other than revenue.

E.g., a beat up 2.0l petrol is far worse for emissions than a 3.2 diesel, and diesel has become far more popular. Size of the engine means squat but the government are getting bad rep regarding emissions from the EU currently, aren;t they?

unkel

junkyard wrote:

I heard a rumor this evening that cars with large engines are going to be loaded with road tax in the Budget. I don't know how true it is but its really going to f**k things up for people with cars over 3 litres. Its a good job I've got trade plates.

Surely that can't be true? :eek:

Tax should be based on the principle of "the polluter pays" and not on how big a car or an engine is. A 1.0 3-pot diesel doing 100,000 km per annum is way dirtier than a 5.0 V12 doing 5,000 km per annum

Tanabe

The Irish Government has been advised by EU Headquarters in Brussels that a vehicle should be taxed accordingly to the level of emissions it disposes of into the atmosphere.

Off the topic: Brussels also wants VRT abolished.

IMHO we will have to wait at least another 100 years before the Irish government comes out of the stone age.

ciarsd

Road tax should just be payed via the fuel pumps. The more mileage (kilometer-age) you do, the more tax you pay.
I understand this might have knock on effects for some users but it makes sense to me at 830am on friday morning after a very long week

ciarsd

Tanabe wrote:

The Irish Government has been advised by EU Headquarters in Brussels that a vehicle should be taxed accordingly to the level of emissions it disposes of into the atmosphere.

Off the topic: Brussels also wants VRT abolished.

IMHO we will have to wait at least another 100 years before the Irish government comes out of the stone age.

Unfortunately, Brussels have wanted aboloshment of VRT for years now, but the government chose to ignore - read: They will lose too much money. It's easier and cheaper for them to ignore them and pay the fine instead. Easy pickings to bump up the states bank account.

fletch

Tanabe wrote:

The Irish Government has been advised by EU Headquarters in Brussels that a vehicle should be taxed accordingly to the level of emissions it disposes of into the atmosphere.

I really wish they would implement this!

Victor

Captain Trips wrote:

That would be a backwards step and still ignorant of the issue of taxing cars for a real purpose other than revenue.

E.g., a beat up 2.0l petrol is far worse for emissions than a 3.2 diesel, and diesel has become far more popular. Size of the engine means squat but the government are getting bad rep regarding emissions from the EU currently, aren;t they?

The problem was that only top end hybrids were availing of this. People are buying luxury / large engine cars with low tax, not fuel efficient cars.

JHMEG

I heard the mnister for something-or-other on the radio a while back saying that the road tax system was going to be re-jigged so that cars will be taxed on CO2 emissions, and not on displacement. It will be done in such a way that the total tax take will still be the same.

milltown

ciarsd wrote:

Road tax should just be payed via the fuel pumps. The more mileage (kilometer-age) you do, the more tax you pay.
I understand this might have knock on effects for some users but it makes sense to me at 830am on friday morning after a very long week

I couldn't agree more.

That would mean that, short of smuggling vast quantities of fuel from the north, anybody in a vehicle that's moving is paying road tax and the ones using the roads the most are paying the most.

I don't think it would require a huge hike in fuel prices either. In fact an increase to UK/NI equivalent prices would probably more than cover it and as a bonus would stop any cross border smugglage.

Mc-BigE

milltown wrote:

anybody in a vehicle that's moving is paying road tax and the ones using the roads the most are paying the most.

Wouldn’t that cripple the haulage/courier/taxi industries etc? Or would it be different for commercial vehicles, who BTW pay the least (e.g. 253euro for under 3000kg vehicle) road tax while probably doing the most mileage/pollution, surely this is also wrong?

unkel

Mc-BigE wrote:

commercial vehicles, who BTW pay the least (e.g. 253euro for under 3000kg vehicle) road tax while probably doing the most mileage/pollution, surely this is also wrong?

Yes, that's wrong, the polluter should pay, so commercial vehicles doing most mileage / pollution should pay most. There are some huge American stretch limos here at work that probably do 100,000 miles per annum doing 2.7 MPG and they pay road tax of €40 or something :rolleyes:

And of course aviation fuel should no longer be exempt either

Mc-BigE wrote:

Wouldn’t that cripple the haulage/courier/taxi industries etc?

Their services will go up in price no doubt

kdevitt

I did a check a few weeks back to see what the emissions were like on my car - its a 2.8 litre. They're actually less than a 2.0 litre Mondeo. I'd be willing to bet money that I'll still be paying over €1K a year in road tax after the budget, while the Mondeo driver will still be paying just over half that.

Complete joke - especially since I use public transport during the week to get to work!

JoeySully

junkyard wrote:

I'll take the 4x4 out on Sundays.;) It actually works out cheaper to pay the fines for no tax than to tax the car.....think about it.:)

This interests me as i am just about to tax me car in the next week costing ~530€. what are the fines?

endplate

Careful now Joey you could bring out the righteous brigade. Contemplating to drive around untaxedtut tut tut:D

A friend of mine only taxes his car in December of each year for 3 months. His tax expires at the end of February but he has the right colour tax for the rest of the year. He's on first name terms with some Garda in different stations who recognise him from been in a few years earlier we think it's very funny. I wouldn't do it am too scared of been caught

unkel

endplate wrote:

Careful now Joey you could bring out the righteous brigade. Contemplating to drive around untaxedtut tut tut:D

Everybody should pay their tax.

Now having said that, I know a bloke who typically owns 5-10 older performance cars. Tax would cost him a preposterous €10k per year while he can only ever drive one at the same time. He never taxes any of his cars, takes his chances and has the occasional car confiscated from him

JoeySully

endplate wrote:

Careful now Joey you could bring out the righteous brigade. Contemplating to drive around untaxedtut tut tut:D

A friend of mine only taxes his car in December of each year for 3 months. His tax expires at the end of February but he has the right colour tax for the rest of the year. He's on first name terms with some Garda in different stations who recognise him from been in a few years earlier we think it's very funny. I wouldn't do it am too scared of been caught

Live life on the edge i say.
i got stopped a couple of weeks ago at a checkpint the guard looked at the tax disk and then lifted the wiper up took another look, a colleuge of his asked " do we need to investigate?" he shook his head and told me to go on my way, no questions, no warnings.the tax was out by 2.5 months! of cource i had a valid excuse, well i think i could have come up with one. you think id learn my lesson. mm think i better bring that tax renewal form into the cop shop seeing as we are at the start of the month

on anouter note i think it would take a lot for a guard to confiscate a car. I was drinkin with one from the dark side one night and said he would people who seemed honest and normal a break but as for foreighners with no insurance or been in the country long enough for the car to have been changed over and taxed, he would confiscate them.

I drove(passenger) up a one way system in a german registered car which was here for 1.5 years met a guard at the corner and he was upset at first but the driver just acted stupid and asked for directions, the guard was more than happy to help him out and off he went.

unkel

JoeySully wrote:

i think it would take a lot for a guard to confiscate a car

Not really. If you're known to them or if they just don't like your face they'll have your car not a bother. Provided of course that it is 3 months or more out of tax

But you're right. If you're half decent they usually don't confiscate your car

mike65

3 months is when they get tough and call for a tow-truck!

Mike.

Guy:Incognito

Hopefully no rise in tax. It's the reason my 2.5 safrane is currently sitting in my drive way untaxed and I'm driving a clio. I was hopeing to get 6 months tax in january and drive it.

Not knowing much about emissions and the like, these are the figures on my nct report from Jan for the safrane:

Low idle Co 0.00 vol %
(o rpm) HC 0 ppm

High Idle Co 0.00 vol % lambda 1.004
(2820 rpm) Hc 7 ppm

Anyone have a table for what I would be paying in a country that has emissions based tax?

unkel

Stekelly wrote:

Low idle Co 0.00 vol %
(o rpm) HC 0 ppm

No emission :eek:

Wait, the engine was switched off

Guy:Incognito

unkel wrote:

No emission :eek:

Wait, the engine was switched off

Yeah, not hard to pass an emissions test when the guy had th eengine off, score one for me:) I assume he should have a reading there, by hey, who am I to argue.The report says the tolerance for high idle is 200ppm so I ssume I'm doing ok there.

On a diff note I was watching from the waiting room and I'm almost certain the guy got out of the car, left it in D with the handbrake on and did his other test, I was not pleased with that.