motor tax idea

Cyrus

was thinking on my way to work this morning about road tax and thought the following would be a good idea.

A number of people have cars that they dont use very often, weekend or summer cars, or occasional track cars that are still road legal. these cars would all cover less than 5,000 miles per annum generally.

A lot of these cars are probably only taxed for 3 months of the year or not at all.

would it make sense to have a system, whereby cars that do less than 5,000miles per annum pay a fixed rate of tax, say 400. when you are getting it taxed the mileage is checked by an nct centre or a a garda or whoever and when you go back to retax its checked again. if you are over there could be a per mile charge, maxing out at what you would have had to pay under the cc or c02 system.

you would imagine that such a system is 'green' in its thinking as it rewards those cars that pollute least with a lower rate of tax, yet is probably revenue positive as people who arent taxing their cars would be more likely to?

just an idea be interested to hear others views

Triangla

You pay per mile as it is with the tax on petrol/diesel.

The more you consume, the more you pay.

djimi

Didnt they have a "tax by the mile" system in Japan, which they scrapped?

kikel

I see your thinking but it would just encourage mileage correction

Enright

Go further
Scrap the car tax, instead put it on the price of petrol/diesel
Who ever uses the most pays the most
if you use a litte - you pay a little

Save money trying to collect the car tax, save the rent of the offices, staff etc

The gardai wont have to bother checking car tax as everyone will be paying it

Gophur

Singapore have a "Weekend Plates" system, cars which pay a reduced road tax but which can only be used at weekends.
These cars have a different colour plate (RED, I think) and carry severe penalties if caught on the road outside designated hours.

ArphaRima

Singapore also have the most messed up, expensive and restrictive motoring laws I've ever heard of.

I'll echo kikel about mileage. And administration charges to check.
It would suit me as I have a low-use car but I doubt they'll go for it!

Anan1

fluffer wrote: »

I'll echo kikel about mileage. And administration charges to check.
It would suit me as I have a low-use car but I doubt they'll go for it!

It'd suit me too, but nobody has yet explained how we could stop large numbers of people from simply going North for their fuel.

langdang

Enright wrote: »

Go further
Scrap the car tax, instead put it on the price of petrol/diesel
Who ever uses the most pays the most
if you use a litte - you pay a little

Save money trying to collect the car tax, save the rent of the offices, staff etc

The gardai wont have to bother checking car tax as everyone will be paying it

If the Greens were actually "green" this would be the correct solution.

mickdw

A weekend tax would be a great idea IMO. It could have a different colour reg plate & be charged at about €300 per year.

djimi

Anan1 wrote: »

It'd suit me too, but nobody has yet explained how we could stop large numbers of people from simply going North for their fuel.

This would be a major problem around the border counties especially. No real way to regulate it either I dont think; you cant make a law that insists people buy their petrol in the ROI...

seamus

Cyrus wrote: »

would it make sense to have a system, whereby cars that do less than 5,000miles per annum pay a fixed rate of tax, say 400.

I do less than 5k miles per annum and I pay less than €400 for the year in motor tax

I think getting rid of it altogether and taxing fuel is the only way to go personally. The government might be worried that dips in the economy will lead to reduced amounts of fuel being bought, but then you could equally say that a bad economy has led to less people taxing their cars.

If I drove 15,000 km per year, then my car tax costs about 3c per km. Assuming that I can get 600km on a full tank, then that would add about €18 onto the cost of a tank of petrol for me, were it to be charged as a fuel add-on.

That's not insignificant. People pay their car tax as a one-off fixed amount. It's a necessary evil, but you pay it, send it off and forget about it for another year. But imagine if it came up every two weeks when you fill your tank, and a full tank cost you €80? You wouldn't be thinking, "Ah it's grand, sure I didn't have to pay motor tax this year". All you would be thinking is about how fncking expensive your fuel has become and you'll start counting your miles and your usage.
Business will see their fuels bill soar (and they'll ignore the tax money they've saved) and pull vehicles off the road.

Although it seems like the fairest way, it will be political suicide, not least because rural TDs will get slammed because everyone outside of cities "has to" drive everywhere.

ando

fluffer wrote: »

I'll echo kikel about mileage. And administration charges to check.
It would suit me as I have a low-use car but I doubt they'll go for it!

Funny how only low mileage users are being verbal in their agreement to the tax by how much fuel is used, which is understandable and I would be the same given the scenario, but alas I am a high mileage user, and not by choice. I can see this being unfair for a lot of people. But then again, it is unfair the way tax is now.. My car has low emissions but because it’s not a 2008 or newer, my tax is 4 times the cost. Ridiculous

Redderneck

Enright wrote: »

Go further
Scrap the car tax, instead put it on the price of petrol/diesel
Who ever uses the most pays the most
if you use a litte - you pay a little

Save money trying to collect the car tax, save the rent of the offices, staff etc

The gardai wont have to bother checking car tax as everyone will be paying it

This. A million times this. Utterly sensible.

Which is why it will never happen. Unless it's in some designed from the ground-up post-apocalyptic phoenix-like new Ireland, risen from the ashes of revolution. In which case we'll probably all be cycling.