Motor Tax By The Month

newmember2

Is there any logical reason why motor tax can't be purchased by the month instead of the current system where three months is the minimum term?

HeidiHeidi

Administration costs, and paper wastage, at a guess.

hoodie6029

Our motor tax system is just a digitised version of the postal and office based system that we have had since the year dot is a major reason too.

kdevitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058301480/motor-tax-by-the-month

In this day and age, no. If we were'nt stuck in the 70's we'd get rid of the paper tax disc altogether and just leave it as a digital system. Should also be no reason why people are penalised for paying motor tax quarterly / semi annually.

mikeecho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120734265#Comment_120734265

Look at what happened in the UK when they did away with paper discs.

Also, we don't have anpr on every road.

The cost of a paper system is cheaper than the alternative.

bennyx_o

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120735189#Comment_120735189

Out of curiosity, what happened in the UK when they got rid of paper tax discs? Can't remember reading anything at the time

EDIT: quick Google shows an increase in untaxed cars

New2Cork

Something that definitely should looked to be implemented. I always chose this option living in continental Europe.

Unless there are major additional costs due to annual interest rates, this is the way to go. Much rather spread-out paying 600+ euro a year over a monthly basis.

Miscreant

As long as it is paid using the "reduced" yearly rate divided by 12 then I would have no issue with paying for motor tax by the month. I find that paying every quarter or half yearly costs more than by the year so this would have to be taken into consideration.

kdevitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120735189#Comment_120735189

Eh - why would we need ANPR on every road? Its not like we have gardai checking paper tax discs on every road as it stands.

The paper system is just an additional cost for government, and us - they already have the digital record of whatever cars are currently taxed, and the gardai already have the technology to scan that data. There is no additional cost.

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120735458#Comment_120735458

That's my next question...why is there a penalty for taxing for less than a year? Administration costs again? Also, if you can pay three months and six months, why not nine months or even twenty four months? The exchequer might be missing out on a trick there.

mikeecho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120735498#Comment_120735498

You can drive from one end of the country to the other without meeting a checkpoint.

People drive for years without meeting a checkpoint.

markpb

It’s hard to see why the UK had the problems of they did. In our case it should be easy to look at the list of cars in the country, remove any that have been legally scrapped, removed those that have been SORNd, remove those that were taxed and send an FCPN to the rest for being untaxed.

Yes, it causes a problem for someone who didn’t use their car on public roads but SORN is free AFAIK.

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120736719#Comment_120736719

Rather than the current system where a car has to have valid tax to be SORD, I think all cars should automatically be SORD once the tax expires.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120736719#Comment_120736719

Thats a bit ridiculous, so you could have a car parked on your drive not being driven and you get a fine in the post?

Where is the evidence to show that the car has been used in a public place without tax?

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120737209#Comment_120737209

How many people do you think that would affect each year? A hundred? A thousand? Asking them to SORN the car isn’t such a terribly arduous demand.?

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120737725#Comment_120737725

You do realise there is potentially thousands of euro worth of road tax arrears that have to be paid before declaring a car off the road?

You can’t just fine someone with no evidence of what your fining them for

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120737871#Comment_120737871

I didn't know that, thanks!

However, I'm not sure if I'd use people who refuse to pay their tax as a reason not to improve the system and make it more efficient and flexible. The law would need to be changed to accommodate those changes so it could easily be changed to remove the link to using a car in a public place.

traco

System is a joke, it should run from any date in a month to the following month and not back to the start. Only being able to buy 3, 6 or 12 makes no sense in this day and age as it should be possible to but 5 or 9 months if you wish for second or hobby cars.

Also when you SORN, declare a car off the road why does it have to be redone within the last annual month to maintain SORN status. It should be off until you bring it back on.

And last part of my rant - why can't I log on and buy tax in 24 hour periods for €25 so I can legally drive a SORN car to a show or use it for a weekend trip. If they can't do it online why can't you go in and buy a disc in a garage like you can buy tempory vignette on the continent?

All the above is irrelevent for any modern stuff as the tax is so low so it only impacts thoose of us with bigger older cars that are for summer use, weekends etc. Hence the powers that be could care less so als it will never improve.

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738705#Comment_120738705

I don’t think we’ll see any major change to our tax system until the end of ICE sales. All the cars on the old CC system will just be left to age out on to the vintage rate.

traco

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738769#Comment_120738769

Agree - next target will be EVs in some manner or other., probably power output but who knows.

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120736942#Comment_120736942

That's the way it used to be in effect, where you could declare off the road after the fact :) System was open to abuse is putting it mildly.

Buffman

They already charge you around 25% extra for 3 or 6 months, they'd probably charge even more for shorter periods.

Hyperbollix

Two things I can think of;

1) Motor tax is a huge cash cow for Govt that all motorists are required by law to pay. Why would they reduce their take by making the system more efficient for the road user when they can simply charge you though the nose annually and charge you even more for the pleasure of paying in quarters.

2) Unlike a private company that would be seeking to automate everything to cut down staffing costs, county council motor tax offices the length and breath of Ireland are packed with people who have are form checkers and tax disk printers. Like all public servants, they have to kept in manner they have become accustomed too. ie the old, slow, shítty system has to stay to keep all of them in jobs.

bazz26

The days of human form checking and printing discs off in the motor tax office are gone for the most part and have been for the last 2 decades or so since they launched the online website. All that stuff is processed and distributed from a centralised hub, very little human touch in it.

Hyperbollix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120741051#Comment_120741051

Dont doubt that, but I have frequented two county council motor tax offices over the years. They are always packed with people taxing cars and the staff behind the glass are busying checking forms and printing disks and handing them over once they get the cash.