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The AA is calling on the Irish government to use the upcoming Budget to reduce the tax levied on both petrol and diesel, reminding the minister for finance that around 20 cent of the current fuel price was introduced during the recession as an 'emergency' tax.
"While fuel prices had been trending downwards earlier this year, the past two months have seen prices start to climb once again. While the factors which dictate oil prices internationally may be outside of our government's control, they do have the power to alter how much tax is placed on fuel and to remove the so-called "emergency-era" taxes," Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs stated. "During the worst years of the recession close to 20c worth of additional taxes was introduced on both fuel and diesel and while we're being told by our Government that the emergency is over, the taxes it brought live on."
The price of a barrel of crude oil has risen by some USD$5 in the past month, as production cuts organised by OPEC have come through. Speaking of crude, the AA is also worried that a crude and regressive tax may be applied to diesel fuel or diesel cars in the Budget, as the government seeks to push people towards petrol and hybrid cars.
"Encouraging people to move away from diesel cars has been a key priority of our government in recent years, but increasing the tax on diesel is not the way to go about achieving this. Many of those who currently own diesel cars purchased these vehicles at the government's behest so it's simply not fair to now punish them for doing what they had previously been told to do," Faughnan added. "Instead, of increasing taxes on diesel to bring the price closer to that of petrol, if the government is sincere in its efforts they should instead consider reducing the tax on petrol. If the government instead persists with the discussed increase in taxes on diesel then it will underline that the priority here is generating additional revenue, not encouraging people to move away from diesel powered vehicles."