CUTS TO COMMERCIAL MOTOR TAX RATES TO BENEFIT ROAD HAULAGE COMPANIES AND ECONOMY - KENNY

Posted on October 13, 2015 6:17 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Sean Kenny, Dublin Bay North Labour TD and Vice-Chair of the Oireachtas Transport Committee has welcomed the changes to commercial motor tax in the 2016 Budget.

Deputy Kenny commented: "The maximum commercial motor tax rate will be reduced from €5,195 to €900. This is a very large reduction, but I believe it is justified as Ireland's system compared unfavourably with the one in Northern Ireland and Britain as a whole and this is impeding Ireland's development economically - both Northern Ireland and Britain are more competitive in this regard and we need to challenge it, if Ireland is to compete in the international road haulage sector. I would expect road haulage companies benefitting from this change in tax to pass on the benefits to the wider economy."

"The move is also being made as part of a simplification of the commercial motor tax regime, which will result in 5 different commercial motor tax rates as opposed to the 20 that exist at present. These new rates will range from between €92 per year to €900 per year and will benefit almost 30,000 vehicles."

"I welcome these changes as a long serving member of the Oireachtas Transport Commitee, of which I am now the Vice-Chair. I would point out that the changes to the commercial motor tax rates are temporary, as a much better and more efficient means of taxation of commercial vehicles is being developed, which will revolve around the gross design vehicle weight of the vehicle being taxed. I look forward to that system being developed further and becoming operational in future years."