Sir, – I have just been paying my motor tax online – which is very handy. I usually try to pay the whole amount for 12 months, but simply can’t this time due to the relentless nature of charges and pressures coming from all directions.
It is only when one has to make this kind of choice that the unfairness of the options offered by the Motor Tax Office hits you in the face. For the pleasure of paying in four instalments over 12 months, I would pay €668. To pay in two instalments, €656. My car tax for 12 months is, however, €592 and was calculated on the basis that it is a private car of a particular make and model with a specific engine size.
Why should I incur such a pricey penalty to pay in instalments when my car will be taxed and where no law has been broken or obligation shirked? If those figures reflect the cost of printing a disc and posting it then I think it’s time the Motor Tax Office was looked at carefully. Why do we put up with this?
People up and down the country are being faced with the need for more and more creativity when it comes to domestic finances only to be met by, in this case, further evidence of what seems to be public policy at this point: the less you have, the more you pay. – Yours, etc,