A new €25 charge for off-the-road cars is being considered, with the alleged aim of discouraging those who would abuse the system, writes NEIL BRISCOE
THE MINISTER for the Environment Phil Hogan is on another collision course over charging people for what was once free. New legislation is being prepared that will tighten up the rules on declaring a car off the road for the purposes of motor tax and a new €25 charge for doing so, although not officially confirmed, already has some quarters up in arms.
The reason for the change in legislation is primarily to close a loophole that allows a car to be retroactively declared off the road. So those caught without tax discs can simply claim that the car was declared and that they simply forgot to send in the notice to put it back on the road. The current month’s grace for renewal of motor tax is a key part of this loophole, and that too is likely to be closed off by the new legislation.
Needless to say, it’s all about the money. Current figures show that approximately 390,000 vehicles are declared as being off the road, and it is estimated that as many as half of those are incorrectly or illegally declared as off the road. The loss to the exchequer is between €75 and €85 million.
“Currently, owners declare vehicles off the road for the purposes of motor tax after the fact, which is effectively unverifiable and open to abuse,” said Mr Hogan in a statement to the Dáil. “I intend to provide that drivers will be able to declare their intention to keep their vehicle off-the-road in advance, so that, if a vehicle is not to be used on a public road for a number of months, the owner will be able to inform the relevant authorities before taking the car off the road rather than afterwards, and so avoid a liability for motor tax. The General Scheme of a Bill to tighten the procedures is at an advanced stage of preparation in my department and I expect to bring it to Cabinet next month.”
No mention there of a €25 charge, you will note, but the rumour mill already has that figure on the streets and it’s causing upset among the community of drivers who need to genuinely declare their cars as off the road.
Thomas Heavy is editor of Irish Vintage Scene magazine and he told us that “if the change is implemented like the system in the UK known as SORN (Statutory Off the Road Notice) then that’s good but the charge is not acceptable. The proposed charge of €25 is another stealth tax on the motorist who has become a easy target for getting more revenue for the Government. Just up the road in Northern Ireland, SORN is the system used and there is no charge to SORN a vehicle. The idea of road tax is to reimburse local authorities for the use of their resources; a vehicle that is off the road will not use any resources, so why should we be taxed or, in this case, charged to own a vehicle? My personal view is that the motorist should not accept this new charge, just as many have refused to accept the household charge.
“The current system has been abused and the loop hole has to be closed but there will still be a need of enforcement if, under the proposed system, a vehicle is on the road and is not taxed or declared off the road.”
And it’s enforcement that’s the key issue to all of this. We’re all familiar with roadside checks by An Garda Síochána, and a quick glance at the tax and insurance discs on your windscreen is usually the first – sometimes the only – check made.
But, as with any issue, the gardaí can’t be everywhere all of the time.
Sgt Damien Hogan from the Garda Press Office said: “[We] have legislation available to prosecute motorists for non-display and having no road fund licence on their vehicles. Also available to us is the ANPR system (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) which is a system build into Garda vehicles to detect the above offences.” But it’s clear that the vast majority of those abusing the system are getting away with it. When asked about how the new legislation would make a difference, the response was a stony “this office does not comment on proposed legislation”.
Will a change in the legislation help reverse that and redirect that €85 million into Government coffers? It seems unlikely, given that, no matter how tight the system is, those who wish to evade it will continue to find ways to do so, and any potential change will be ultimately down to the detection rate achieved by An Garda Síochána.
Given that the resources of An Garda Síochána are already overstretched, perhaps it is time to consider a similar system to that now being used for speed check cameras and farm the detection of motor tax dodging out to a private firm.
Perhaps if those who use the system correctly saw those who abuse it being caught and punished for doing so, that €25 pill would be somewhat less bitter come the swallow.
