Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 105: To ask the Minister for Finance the different annual take home pay in 2007 of a married couple with two earners earning a combined income of €65,000 and a married couple with one earner and one full-time stay at home parent with a combined income of €65,000 with comparative figures for each of the years since tax individualisation was introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10212/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy is presented in the table. For each year prior to 2007, the gross income on which the take home pay is calculated has been discounted as shown in the table so as to take due account of the impact of wages growth since 2000. The take home pay is calculated by deducting the tax, PRSI and the health levy due from the gross wage.

Annual take home pay of a married two-earner couple and a married one-earner couple with a carer in the home, both couples earning the equivalent of €65,000 in 2007 terms for each year back to 2000.

It should be noted that in the case of the married two-earner couple, an income split of 65%:35% between the two spouses is assumed. A different income split could give rise to different take home pay figures for the married two-earner couple. The difference in take home pay between a married one-earner couple and a married two-earner couple arises due to a number of factors including band structure, differing entitlement to personal credits and the application of conditions which apply in the health levy and PRSI systems.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 106: To ask the Minister for Finance the review mechanisms in place to adjust rates of value added tax or remove specified goods and services from the ambit of the tax. [10155/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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VAT like all taxes is reviewed each year in the context of each Budget and Finance Bill. However, the VAT regime and indeed the rating of all goods and services is subject to the requirements of EU VAT law with which Irish VAT law must comply. Under the EU VAT Directive, Member States may retain the zero rates on goods and services which were in place on 1 January 1991, but cannot extend the zero rate to new goods and services. However, it is possible to move existing zero rated items to either the reduced rate or the standard rate depending on the item in question. However, once moved, it would not be possible to revert them to the zero rate.

Member States may have up to two reduced VAT rates of not less than 5 per cent for a specified number of goods or services which are set out in Annex III of the EU VAT Directive. The goods and services in Annex III include certain foods, non-oral medicines, supply, construction and alteration of housing provided as part of a social policy, and newspapers and periodicals. Goods and services at the reduced rate may be moved to the standard rate, but only those listed in Annex III may be reverted from the standard rate to the reduced rate.

In addition, Member States have the option of maintaining, at a reduced rate of not less than 12 per cent, any items not listed in Annex III, provided they carried the reduced rate on 1 January 1991. These items are considered to be 'parked' and Ireland's parked rate is the same as our reduced rate of 13.5%. Domestic fuels, restaurant services and labour intensive services are examples of parked items. Member States must therefore apply the standard VAT rate to those goods and services that are not subject to VAT at the zero rate and which are not listed in Annex III of the Sixth VAT Directive.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 107: To ask the Minister for Finance the excise duty and approximate VAT charge on a litre of home heating oil in the domestic market in February 2007; the amount of excise duty and VAT included in the cost of a typical delivery of 1000 litres of home heating oil; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10248/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the information requested as at February 2007 is set out in the table. The information is based on a price of €542.8 for 1,000 litres of Kerosene and €546.6 for 1,000 litres of home heating Diesel (Marked Gas Oil).

The reduced VAT rate of 13.5 per cent is applied to home heating oil. In relation to the scope for reducing VAT on supplies heating oil, the position is the VAT rating of goods and services is subject to the requirements of EU VAT law with which Irish VAT law must comply. The VAT treatment of heating oil is based on the fact that on 1 January 1991 it was taxed at the reduced rate. Under EU law Member States can continue to apply reduced rates in such cases provided the rate is not below 12%. The Deputy may be aware that in Budget 2007, I reduced the excise rate to zero for Kerosene which is the primary home heating oil.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 108: To ask the Minister for Finance the tax incentive measures he will introduce to ensure that Ireland meets the new target agreed by EU leaders of increasing biofuels to 10% of all vehicle fuel by 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10245/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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While the promotion of biofuel is primarily a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, I am pleased to inform the Deputy that in Finance Act 2006 I provided for significant tax measures to promote biofuels in Ireland.

This scheme, which received the necessary EU State Aid approval, commenced in November 2006 and will:

provide for excise relief on up to 163 million litres of biofuels per annum;

cost over €200m over 5 years;

when fully operational, result in CO2 savings of over 250,000 tonnes per annum;

contribute towards meeting a target of 5.75% transport fuel market penetration by biofuels by 2009;

help reduce our dependency on conventional fossil fuels, and

stimulate activity in the agricultural sector.

As a complementary measure, I provided in Finance Act 2006 for a new 50% VRT relief to promote new flexible fuel vehicles (cars designed to operate on biofuels) for an initial period of two years, and extended the existing VRT relief for hybrid cars by a further year to end 2007. I am also providing in Finance Bill 2007 for the introduction of a VRT relief of 50% for electric cars — cars which can be propelled by a rechargeable battery — on a pilot one year basis with effect from 1 January, 2007.

In addition I announced in the Budget the commencement of a public consultation process on adjusting VRT to take greater account of CO2 emissions of vehicles. A similar exercise is under way in the area of motor tax. Any changes will have effect from a target date of 1 January 2008.

The overall level of excise relief available for biofuels under the above mentioned Scheme is that which had been proposed by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in advance of Budget 2006. It is regarded as a level which is sufficient to match Ireland's output potential in relation to renewable energy crops for motor fuels over the coming years. These fiscal incentives were designed to kick start the domestic biofuels industry and the evidence suggests that this is happening.

The Deputy might wish to note that there are additional non-fiscal measures that can be used to promote biofuels and reach the targets referred to. To provide further market certainty and encourage projects of scale, the Government recently announced its intention to move to a Biofuels Obligation by 2009, with targets for market penetration for biofuels of 5.75% in 2009 and 10% by 2020.