Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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75. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to provide an annual rebate similar to the med 1 on toll fees paid by persons commuting to and from work; the estimated upfront cost to the Exchequer of a 20% rebate; his views on whether the cumulative effect of tolling on certain routes is anti competitive and anti worker; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25065/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Employees may claim a tax deduction in respect of (a) the cost of travelling expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of their employment or office; and (b) the cost of other expenses incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of the duties of their employment. However, these deductions do not ordinarily include the cost of travelling to and from a principal place of work.

In order to encourage the uptake of more sustainable and environmentally friendly transport options the Deputy may wish to note that persons commuting to work can already avail of the TaxSaver scheme in respect of public transport and the cycle to work scheme.

Given the information provided by the Deputy, and on the assumption that he is proposing a rebate of income tax paid, it is not possible to provide a cost for his proposal. Notwithstanding the above, the Deputy appears to be suggesting a broad based relief rather than a targeted tax incentive. In this regard, I would draw the attention of the Deputy to the tax expenditure guidelines issued by my Department, which stipulate that “the key rationale for Government intervention in a market...by way of a tax expenditure...should be the existence of a market failure" and that a tax-based incentive should be more efficient than a direct expenditure measure. A measure such as the one proposed by the deputy does not appear to address a clear market failure in circumstances where alternative taxation based measures are already available. Therefore, I have no plans to introduce a rebate along the lines proposed by the Deputy.