Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this evening's debate on the Bill. As Deputy Healy has outlined, for most people living outside the major urban centres, a car is an essential mode of transport. It is not a luxury or something people can afford to do without. Every rural Deputy knows the public transport system is non-existent. One needs a car for day-to-day living, to go to work and to provide any kind of social life for one's family. While the changes proposed in the Bill are about reducing tax evasion, we must look beyond the staggering €55 million it will raise in extra motor taxes by removing the retrospective declaration provision.

It is important to examine why people avail of the system. The amount of retrospective declarations increased by 40% since 2008. It is no coincidence when we see that the bank guarantee took place in 2008, leading to the bailout and the recession. Some motorists availing of the retrospective declarations have used it as a system of avoiding tax but many do so because they cannot afford to tax a car to keep it on the road. These people are not immune from the rest of the recessionary impact, tax increases, cuts in income and cuts in wages and employment. This will have a severe impact on people. It will affect how people can keep transport for themselves and their families and how people can maintain themselves in employment. Combining this point with the increases that have taken place over the past two budgets in respect of car tax, it amounts to a significant hit for people. The increase I mentioned, with people retrospectively declaring, was combined with increases in taxation. We must be conscious of this point in legislation and of the difficulties people are going through.

This is highlighted in media reports on the major increase in the number of people taxing their cars for three months. They cannot afford to tax cars for one year anymore even though, over the course of the year, it costs significantly more. I echo the calls made by other Deputies for the Minister to examine this point and level out the differences between taxing a car for three months and 12 months. We will no doubt hear that the difference is due to the extra administrative burden on the taxing authorities but there must be some recognition of the fact that people cannot afford to tax cars for 12 months. That is why the number of people opting for three months has increased so significantly over the past year.

It is interesting that the Bill recognises that the extra money will go to the local government fund. It is a sad sign of the times that the Government must state that in the Bill to ensure it does. It is a moot point because the Government has already provided for taking €150 million out of the local government fund and returning it to the Exchequer to service the national debt at the behest of the troika. It is only a matter of moving it from car tax to the local government fund and back out so it does not make much difference. The Government can raise this funding, which is so badly needed by local authorities, to maintain our roads across the State but it uses it to write down debt. In the context of the national debt we must service, €150 million is not significant but it would be significant in grants and funds to local authorities to maintain our roads.

I am concerned by section 7 of the Bill, which provides for a fee for the off-road declaration. The fee will not be implemented immediately but it should not be implemented at all. If people have taken a vehicle off the road, they should not be charged for the luxury. This is particularly the case when the intention of the Bill is to reduce evasion. Introducing the fee may encourage people to chance their arms and see if they can get away with evading the tax. It should not be subject to a fee and if people are putting a vehicle off the road they should have their declaration submitted without any cost.

The removal of the car tax and vehicle licensing function from local authorities is a retrograde step. Moving it to a single authority makes it seem as if we are centralising everything and withdrawing from local services and access to local services enjoyed in the State for many years. Combined with the abolition of town councils, the withdrawal of services from local authorities, the establishment of Irish Water and the vehicle licensing authority, this amounts to withdrawing further services from local authorities. It is a retrograde step. I call on the Minister not to introduce the fee outlined in section 7 for the off-road declaration as the Bill moves through the House.

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