Road Tax Distortions

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Monday November 29, 2010 13:16 by Patrick Connolly - None

In releases giving to the media on the 28th of November, in which Road Tax was discussed,
Minister Brian Dempsey's tone suggested that the Road Tax exemption, that allows people to take their car off the road, was being used willy - nilly by people who had left the country for a period of time and then returned to start re-using the vehicle.
This is a pure distortion of the facts, if not a complete lie, and has to be challenged, even if is only for the sake of correction.

Road Tax Exemption: Distortion of facts

In releases giving to the media on the 28th of November, in which Road Tax was discussed,
Minister Brian Dempsey's tone suggested that the Road Tax exemption, that allows people to take their car off the road, was being used willy - nilly by people who had left the country for a period of time and then returned to start re-using the vehicle.
This is a pure distortion of the facts, if not a complete lie, and has to be challenged, even if is only for the sake of correction.

Example: I was involved in an accident in 2009 that left me disabled, as a car driver I was no longer able to use my vehicle due the damaged sustained by my legs. That was until my family kindly saved up enough money in order to have the car adapted for hand controls.
For the period that they were saving for the conversion I had taking the car off the road and had so declared this fact to the Motor Tax Office. Eventually when the car was converted and ready for the road the vehicle was taxed in accordance with the law.

My case is just one example, there are many examples of people around Ireland who have been victim of similar bad luck and have had to use the exemption until they got back on their feet (literally in my case).
There are also the people who have lost their jobs and whose vehicles and now surplus to requirements because of the downturn.
Genuine people who have to watch their vehicles sitting idle outside their overpriced homes and closed down businesses doing nothing through no fault of their own.

Its people like these, that have tried their best , who will now be caught between a rock and a hard place, their livelihoods are gone but the government wants them to keep paying for the fact they own a vehicle. If the exemption is removed it will now mean that people will be paying Road Tax not for its intended purpose, the use of a vehicle on the road, and the upkeep of same, but will in fact be paying Road Tax for the privilege of owning a vehicle. Much in the same manner that a person pays the Second Property Tax for the fact of owning the property, not living in it.

I will also mean that people will be forced to sell their vehicles at a knock down price in a saturated used vehicle market in order to avoid paying for vehicles they no longer use. Which has to be grossly and morally wrong, if not unconstitutional as regards the right to ownership of property.

Considering the governments track record of inflicting financial pain from the bottom up, its no real surprise that the very exemption that the ordinary working class people in Ireland can avail of, is one of the very first the government decide to target.

Like their saleries, the government has not mentioned cutting any of the tax exemptions enjoyed by the wealthier sections of society in Ireland. I suppose that would be to close to home to contemplate.

Patrick Connolly

Monaghan