No more need to worry

L-M

The new law we all thought was coming in in relation to motor tax, actually isn't.

http://www.ivvcc.ie/

The first few sentences of that article were: "Motorists who avail of the “off the road” exemption when taxing their vehicles are costing the State up to €75 million per year, according to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey. Mr Dempsey plans to end the exemption in a move which will compel all registered owners to tax their vehicles, whether they are in use or not. “The new system means if you have a car, it has to be taxed,” Mr Dempsey said."

Any person with even a smidgen of integrity would agree that tax evaders should be caught, but it should not result in a penalty being imposed on law-abiding car owners whose cars are genuinely off-road for restoration or winter storage. The Gardaí have adequate powers --- long established at that --- to deal with dishonest evaders of road tax.

However, what intrigued me was that the Minister for Transport seemed to be acting outside the powers given to him by the Oireachtas. I wrote to him on this point and he has confirmed in a letter to me dated 14th December 2010 that the Minister for Transport has no legal authority to introduce such legislation.

Embarrassing, isn't it?

The Minister should have spoken to Sir Humphrey first.

Update 30 December 2010:- Mr John Gormley, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, has written to me confirming that he is the minister responsible for motor taxation policy. He is setting up an implementation group to deal with the problem of motor tax evasion (€74 million per annum) and he is to be commended for this. In his letter he states "...that it remains a basic tenet of motor tax law that a vehicle is only liable for motor tax if it is used on a public road." We need to be vigilant that we do not find ourselves with invidious legislation that penalises honest motorists.

andyseadog

so many contradictions

billyboy01

The big question is when will motortax go up, as it has not risen the last few years, since the CO2 emissions rates came in!

MidlandsM

Great news, now maybe i can get a good nights sleep tonight......lol

VolvoMan

Would that prat Gormley ever do anyhting good for once in a while and introduce lower tax on older vehicles. It costs me 935 euro per annum to tax a car I have which isn't even worth that amount.

bazz26

colm_mcm

Imagine how much money they could make if the same logic was applied to everything.