Motor tax question

That's the rate.

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/volkswagen-passat/29729794

Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid with 416bhp is only €170 a year, that's how to properly play the motor tax game.

I would say you can thank the Green Party for that.

They were the ones that sold the idea that "diesel was environmentally friendly" than petrol cars since it produced less carbon. Hence 80%+ cars from that period were all diesel!

The smart ones do.

Or you can thank all the car companies that lied about their emissions? The diesel issues weren't unique to Ireland or to the Green Party.

Well it was the Green Party that brought forth the idea (if I recall correctly) to tax based on CO2 rather than the size of the engine, as was the case previously.

Petrol cars produced more CO2 than diesel, while diesel cars just produced other more harmful gasses like NOx. So yes car companies did lie about the level of NOx etc. being released, it would have made very little difference to how much you paid tax on them.

It's actually a myth that the Green Party were responsible for the change. Not only were they not in Government when it was first announced, but they had never been in Government before up until that point. It would be like blaming SF for something the current government announced tomorrow.

The change to basing Motor Tax on emissions was actually announced in Budget 2007, which was delivered in 2006.

Here's the quote from Finance Minister Brian Cowan's (FF) speech at the time: (https://assets.gov.ie/194593/082b8141-377f-4d02-94e6-54b38f74c614.pdf)

The government at the time was made up of Fianna Fail, the Progressive Democrats and 5 independents. The Minister for the Environment mentioned above was Martin Cullen form Fianna Fail. The Green Party were in opposition, and did not contribute to the budget. As mentioned, they had not ever been in Government at all up until this point.

Here's an interesting article from October 2007. By this time the GP were in Government with FF and the PDs, but the Motor Tax reforms were delayed and were not due to be implemented in January 2008 as promised. In the article, Fine Gael's Phil Hogan is lambasting the Government at the time, especially The Green Party, for not introducing the changes.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/motor-tax-reform-to-be-delayed-1.813158

The truth is that all political parties in the Dail at the time supported the change to emissions based motor tax, not just the GP, and the GP were minority partners in Government when it was finally implemented, but it was FF and the PDs that actually introduced the idea.

Forget saving the environment.Its all about tax tax tax revenue revenue revenue.Next is a tax on battery sizes,etc

Any examples of a diesel car with €156 tax? Particularly a 2008 one?

People were buying city cars with diesel engines rather than petrol to save circa €40 a year in motor tax despite them doing about 5k miles a year in conditions completely unsuited to a diesel.