Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Finance if, in view of the need for early traffic reduction measures to coincide with the inevitable traffic disruption of Transport 21, he will provide special tax incentives, similar to the tax saver scheme, for users of van pools. [8757/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Revenue Commissioners advise me that under their published guidelines for the operation of PAYE and PRSI for certain benefits there is no charge to tax in respect of a van which is in a "van pool". A van can be treated by an employer as being in a van pool if: the van is made available to, and is actually used by, more than one employee and is not ordinarily used by one employee to the exclusion of the others; any private use of the van by the employees is merely incidental to business use; it is not normally kept overnight at the home of any of the employees.

I assume that the reference by the Deputy to the tax saver scheme relates to the commuter travel saver scheme. An exemption from taxation as a benefit-in-kind was provided for certain commuter travel passes given to employees by employers. The main reason for introducing this exemption was to underpin Government policy on the wider use of public transport and it was hoped these exemptions would encourage commuters who travelled to and from work by car to switch to public transport, thereby easing traffic congestion at peak times. Further tax incentives for van pools would not contribute to the move to public transport and I have no plans to introduce such special tax incentives.