Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 11, line 35, after “€50,000,” to insert “or, if the original market value exceeds €50,000, the car was first made available during the period 1 January 2018 and 15 October 2018,”.

As we discussed on Committee Stage, this relates to a very small number of people who may have purchased an electric vehicle in the past year. The case is being made that we have to give consistent signals and not have a tax system that steers people towards a certain action and then changes the ground underneath them. While that applies to a very small number of people in this case, the principle is worth upholding and I have often heard finance officials, when the Minister comes in with tax or other proposals, argue with themselves about the need for the tax system to be consistent and predictable and not to steer people in a certain direction and then change the rules. It was not precise but there were clear statements by the relevant Ministers in advertising and other materials from Government that there was an intention to have a three-year period where there would be an exemption to benefit-in-kind provisions for certain types of electric vehicles.

I think the Minister accepted on Committee Stage that there was an argument and he wanted time to consider it. If I am reading it correctly, I think he has gone a long way to recognising that we want that consistent approach. As I see it, the only difference is that it would be a two-year continued exemption rather than three. I presume the Minister would argue that that gives people time to sell a vehicle. I welcome his acceptance of that point. While it is a very small number, for those people, there is a basic principle that the State should act in a predictable and consistent manner. Given that the Minister's amendments seem to bring us in that direction, I welcome them and, unless I have missed something, that he is willing to make such a provision. It is two years rather than three but I think it is a significant improvement for those individuals.

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