Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

——suggested one in ten motorists were guilty of tax evasion. The figure quoted refers to the percentage of vehicle owners, based on returns to my Department, who did not respond to reminder notices. Non response to a reminder notice is not the same as not taxing one's car. Various issues are involved. Reminder notices are issued to vehicle owners who fail to renew their tax when initially due. Many of these people will have sold or scrapped their vehicles, many will have paid by the time they receive the reminder and many cars may be temporarily not in use. The suggestion there is an overall rate of 10% persistent tax evasion is nonsense and has no basis in fact or in any of the analyses carried out over a number of years.

I take this matter seriously. The Deputy has made this particular assertion on several occasions but, sadly, repetition of an error on his part does not make the error any closer to the truth. The assertion is wrong. The figures we have are of the order of 4.6%.

The Deputy asked what has been done since the 2001 survey was carried out. The national vehicle driver file computer system, NVDF, arrangements were introduced in 2002. This system has made the collection of motor tax more cost effective and efficient. Also, in conjunction with local motor tax offices, follow up action has taken place with regard to under declarations of weight. This was an issue the Deputy rightly highlighted. The NVDF analysis indicates that an additional €1 million has been raised through that. A measure was also introduced to facilitate earlier taxing following change in ownership and this has been working effectively. There are also arrangements to issue motor tax renewal reminder notices earlier to facilitate earlier taxing because if people get notices late they may pass the due date before paying and be in arrears.

We have also taken action with regard to non use. The incidence of non use was quite high where, for example, people said they did not use the car for three months. This issue could well result in an amendment to motor tax legislation being introduced to require continuous registration. The Garda Síochána is also doing some testing on camera equipment to automatically read number plates.

There is not 10% non-compliance. If that was the case, it would be a serious matter. The figure the Deputy has is incorrect.

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