Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tax evasion is a serious crime. It is essentially theft from the public purse and involves taking from the funds of the nation in order to further enrich oneself and denying funding for vital services without which no one could reasonably make a living or enjoy a decent standard of living. Of course, we face a significant problem in this State because the public purse has been opened up to the troika and the banks and billions of euro of the people's money has been squandered on bailouts of debt which were never the people's debt and never their responsibility. Quite reasonably, people now look at their tax bill, income tax, PRSI, VAT, motor tax and others taxes and wonder as they look at cuts in essential services in the social safety net where all this money is going and what benefit they get from these taxes. There is still great benefit from the taxes we pay but, understandably, the value for money people are getting is more in question and taxes are under more scrutiny by the public. That is why a desire to promote public confidence and to be fair must underpin any tax code. The Government has already got this wrong on many occasions, not least with the unfair property tax.

I do not believe the current motor tax code is fair. Sinn Féin believes it needs reform and we have put forward that point in debate on the recent motor tax Bill before the House. Today, we are discussing a move to close a gap which allows some people to avoid tax or to reclaim tax paid wrongfully. We support this general purpose although I do take issue with some sections of the Bill which I will elaborate on.

As highlighted in the excellent Bills digest compiled by the Oireachtas Library and Research Service, based on a study from 2010 and 2011, evasion of motor tax is estimated as being approximately 5%. This represents an annual revenue loss of about €50 million at present. This figure of €50 million pales in comparison to the many billions of euro of untapped wealth in this State which the Government has refused to tackle even slightly, instead focusing on the poor and low earners. That does not mean people should be allowed to shirk their responsibility to pay for the roads and other services they use but I feel some perspective is required. The method of closing this gap by introducing a prospective instead of retrospective requirement would seem to make sense. This will end the practice of people claiming falsely that cars were off the road for a period when the car was not taxed.

It will also stop drivers falsely claiming that they have put their cars off the road and seeking refunds of motor tax. Of course, some will continue to attempt to avoid both the tax and the reach of the Garda Síochána but these steps will make that more difficult. The move away from requiring a garda witness for a declaration of non-use could also help to free up much-needed Garda resources, since the Government cuts have resulted in the closure of Garda stations. However, I have a problem with the removal of the one-month grace period for tax renewal. This is a fair system which allows some leeway for people to renew their car tax and allows time to deal with any problem that may arise in the processing of renewals. No system is perfect and errors can happen at any point.

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