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THE GOVERNMENT HAS announced an increase in the carbon tax of €6 per tonne.
Announcing the measure in his Budget 2020 speech this afternoon, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the tax hike will come into effect at midnight tonight for petrol and diesel.
For home-heating fuels, it will kick in from May 2020. The increase will bring the carbon tax up to €26 per tonne. Donohoe said the increase in the carbon tax will raise €90 million in 2020.
He also today confirmed fuel allowance will increase by €2 next year, bringing the weekly payment to €24.50 per week. The fuel season starts on 30 September and runs for 28 weeks.
The minister said the burden of the carbon tax “falls unequally” and committed to increases in programmes that help to address the causes of fuel poverty.
“I am providing €13 million for the Warmer Homes scheme to provide free energy efficiency upgrades to households deemed to be in or at risk of energy poverty,” he said.
“This reduces the energy required to adequately heat a home, thus reducing a household’s exposure to increases in energy costs.”
The Society of St Vincent de Paul said the decision to defer the increases on home-heating fuels until after the winter months is welcome. However the charity said measures to protect low income households for the impact of increases fall short.
The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) today released a new study which found a carbon tax could have adverse impacts on GDP, inequality and household income. However, it also found the impact is limited and could be reduced by using a well-designed revenue recycling scheme,.
Rural households will be more affected than urban households because they spend a greater share of their income on carbon goods, including heating fuels and transport diesel. Middle-income households face the highest price impacts in urban areas due to their high consumption of transport fuels.
“The economic and household-level impacts of the proposed carbon tax increase in the all government Climate Action Plan are limited and with a well-designed carbon revenue recycling scheme, it is possible to reduce impacts further and compensate those households most affected,” commented one of the authors of the ESRI report, Kelly de Bruin.
“However, the current plan for a carbon tax would not reduce emissions enough to meet EU targets, particularly if the Irish economy continues to grow and emissions increase accordingly. Additional climate policies are needed to ensure a transition to a low-carbon economy.”
Investment in the Midlands
Minister Donohoe said a portion of the carbon tax revenues next year will be used to fund a package targeted at the Midlands.
“We know that climate disruption is already impacting our country. In the Midlands in particular, job losses are already being experienced,” the minister said.
Midland communities feel very threatened by the potential closure of Bord Na Móna and ESB power stations in their region.
These companies have sustained families and communities for many decades. While it is accepted that there is a need to change, it is the government’s duty to ensure that no one cohort of citizens, workers, communities or enterprises is left behind by this disruption and the Midlands will be the first region facing this disruption.
He said €20 million will be dedicated to the creation of a new energy efficiency scheme targeted, initially, at the social housing stock in the region. A further €5 million will be provided for peatland rehabilitation.
A dedicated ‘Just Transition Fund’ of €6 million is to be created, devoted to priorities identified by local communities.
Donohoe said investment of this scale in energy efficiency will support over 400 environmentally sustainable jobs, with up to 100 more jobs through expanded peatlands rehabilitation.
Benefit in kind
The minister also announced the government will replace the 1% diesel surcharge introduced last year with a nitrogen oxide emissions-based charge.
This will apply to all passenger cars registering for the first time in the State from 1 January 2020. The charge will apply on a euro per miligram/kilometre basis, with the rate increasing in line with the level of nitrogen oxide emitted.
“The surcharge reflects the detrimental effect of these emissions on our environment and will have a particular impact on older, more pollutant cars,” he said.
The Asthma Society of Ireland said measures such as the carbon tax and the charge on nitrogen oxide aimed at achieving lower levels of ambient air pollution are to be commended:
In addition, Donohoe announced the government will:
Funds from increased carbon tax revenue will be also ringfenced, he said, to fund new climate action measures such sustainable mobility projects like cycle projects and electric vehicle infrastructure across the country.
Donohoe said the funding will also be used to provide additional resources for Revenue and An Garda Síochána to prevent an increase of cross-border smuggling.
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It won’t fund any climate protection measures, it will fund their mistakes
@Caoimhín O Neill: An increase in Carbon Tax wouldn’t have stopped the last five mass extinctions.. Mother Nature is a mad scientist, when she tells us our time is up, it’s up.. No amount of carbon tax is going to save us..
@Caoimhín O Neill: and their big fat pensions!
@Caoimhín O Neill: bring on the election. More expensive to go to work now.
When are the government going to tax the big firms and not the average Joe
@Marty Lawless: not any time soon. Not a uniquely Irish problem. The big companies rule the roost.
@Marty Lawless: when hell freezes over
@Marty Lawless: just heard Irish cement have been granted a licence to burn used tyres in there furnaces
@Marty Lawless: When the government doesn’t consist of FFG…
@Marty Lawless: they reject hundreds of millions apples tax because there are 4 million Irish sheep they can rob money from.
@Sea Graham: Did you not hear, the climate experts are telling us that hell will freeze over sometime in the next million years and we need to be prepared.
Motorist shafted again
@Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: Force them to live 1 or 2hrs drive away from work, then tax them to get there… Tories…
@Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: The carbon tax will be €26 per tonne of CO2 by next year.
1 litre of petrol generates 1.74 kg of CO2
1.74 kg CO2 / 1000 = 0.00174 tonne of CO2
0.00174 tonne of CO2 x €26 = €4.5 cent per litre of petrol (an increase of 1 cent)
The cost increase for filling up a 60 litre petrol tank will be 60 cent (€0.60).
@David Jordan: You’re in the wrong place to be posting detailed factual calculations. This is the journal.ie!!! Sweeping generalisations and rhetoric welcome only!!
So €0.60 per full and approx 50 fills per year. €30 per year for me approx. I’ll hardly miss it but I wish they would ring fence this money for environmental measures.
@David Jordan: No its no 60 cent per fill.
@David Jordan: Wonderful knowledge from the internet . Its there for everyone the way you put down comments one would think you worked it out yourself.
I have no issue with moving away from cars but there are awful alternatives in Ireland – shortage of rail, buses that are very pricey and often late (or just don’t show up) and no consistent cycle lanes.
People want to help and make changes but it should be made as easy as possible to do so with valid options.
@Fergal Kelly: Ah but sure that would be difficult, why not just tax people instead – FG 2019
@Fergal Kelly: there are no bus services outside the cities. People HAVE to rely on cars to get around. The Midlands particularly have been shafted for years with their best young people forced to leave. The IDA have never crossed the Shannon promoting jobs only in Dublin. We are educating our children for export again and it will get worse with Bord an Mona and ESB job losses. If you keep voting for the same chancers you will keep getting the same austerity.
Achieves nothing, only strangles motorists & homeowners even more.
This is not about Greta or climate change its squeezing the middle as usual.
Boo urns! sort out the national public transport infrastructure before adding new taxes!
@Ross McGann: and where do you think the money to fix it comes from?
@Ross McGann: We have nobody to blame but ourselves when we continually vote these parties in.
@davey boy: and which party in the last 25 years would have prioritised this as I cant see any they have all been as useless as each other.
@Ross McGann: you are having a laugh!
Fuel goes up so transport goes up so everything goes up.
So does that mean they are not going to be taking 5% of the local property tax and giving it to climate action change? 2 taxes added both for the same thing robbon c@=(_
@Karl Charlie: It’s your local councillors that set the property tax rate so get onto them about it. Some other local authorities have reduced the rate, mines going up 10% and I see the waste of money in the council and not one councillor has ever raised the wastage or the large increase in staff since the embargo was lifted.
Good to see positive action on climate change!
@Cathal O’Neill: how is that positive action tax the workers not the firms
@Cathal O’Neill: I still have to drive to work, how is it positive. Its a money making machine. Lol
@Marty Lawless: exactlyl freeze the pensioners and poverty stricken great solution
@Marty Lawless: I’m pretty sure it taxes anyone that uses petrol and diesel, whether private citizens or ‘firms’. And even if they taxed the ‘firms’, as you suggest, wouldn’t the cost be passed onto the consumer in any case?
@Marty Lawless: Taxing the firms results in the cost being passed to the consumer, often with a little tacked on to protect profit margins.
Why do people find that so hard to comprehend these days?
@RJ: It is a benefit to everyone to reduce carbon emissions and promote low carbon technology in the hope of staving off the effects of climate change
@Cathal O’Neill: I’m afraid I have no faith in these guys being able to stave off anything …. except of course their salaries increasing!
@Cathal O’Neill: All public transport and haulage firms use diesel. Who do you thinks pays for it in the end..
@Cathal O’Neill: Cathal please explain how taxing the problem is going to fix it?
Did taxing cigarettes or alcohol stop the problems? No, decades of education did and even then not completely.
I have a gad bottle for the hob, why? Because the electricity network is completely unreliable, every storm and I’m out of power, the longest was over 7 days. So now I’m getting punished because of the government failure to invest in the ESB over the years!
Where’s rural public transport? Proper road network etc.
This is just another cash cow for the government
@Cathal O’Neill:
Where did the previous Carbon Tax revenues go ?
Where did the PSO levies revenues go ?
Where di the previoues ber 50% tax on petrol & diesel revenues go ?
Where did the Sugar Tax revenues go ?
@Jim Buckley Barrett: From 2001 through 2015, increases in state-level excise taxes were associated with declines in prevalence of cigarette smoking. The effect was strongest in young adults (age 18–24) and weakest in low-income individuals (<$25,000). https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0204416
@Cathal O’Neill: take the family on trips on the bike ??
@Cathal O’Neill: Positive action would be if China, the USA, India and South Korea reduced carbon emissions, that would make a difference not the few farts our cows emit here. It’s a con so either you are a FFG troll or just deluded ?
@Cathal O’Neill: rubbish
What’s that on a litre of petrol?
@Ed: about a cent
@Ed: not enough
@Padraig Fitzpatrick: WTF are you on about ? is the over 50% tax that is already on petrol and diesel not enough ?
F sake
Do they know what ringfenced means! So on one hand the money will be ringfenced for what it is actually being collected for i.e. to fund new climate action measures etc. etc. then he says “funding will also be used to provide additional resources for Revenue and An Garda Síochána to prevent an increase of cross-border smuggling” .. seriously, I am sick and tired of this country ringfencing funds and not using them for what they are being collected for.
@Lydia McLoughlin: Well, some might argue it’s a bit of a stretch but I think it does fall in line with the ringfence. The whole endeavour is jeopardised if cheaper, smuggled fuel is used instead of the taxed fuel. So, essentially, it falls within the ringfence as it is a protective measure of the carbon tax itself.
green party will disappear again at the next election
Excellent news. Great to see a fiscal move being made to push people away from using their car
@Greg Murphy: what about us that live rurally ? What are we supposed to do , cycle to work 10 miles away?
@Greg Murphy: push the away from cats but into what?
@Greg Murphy: brilliant observation, so what about us with no public transport.
@JillyBean: yes, many already do.
@Greg Murphy: being pushed away yes, but what alternative provisions are there?
@Greg Murphy: that’s a smart response..must be a city slicker.. What about all the people that travel endless kilometres to work daily.. And have no access to public transport.. Tax on cars tax on diesel petrol etc.. Stay in your bubble..
@Greg Murphy: good news for you bad news for people like me who need to drive for work, i cant exactly put all my work equipment on a bus id need 2 people to help me carry it all
@Greg Murphy: and into what alternative Greg????
@Greg Murphy: so how am i to get to work which is 30 kms away ???
@Greg Murphy: do you not think a proper replacement transport should be available first? To ALL.
@Greg Murphy: it’s good and bad it’s good for the environment but bad because there is a lack of rural public transport. We need a infrastructure development plan and it needs to be moved up not pushed back easier and cheaper transport is the more likely people are to leave cars at home. I would suggest copying Hong Kong’s transport system which is cheap and efficient.
@JillyBean: yes…I did 23km each way for years. Anyone living around 10km from work should be cycling provided their place of work has proper facilities……secure place to lock bike, shower and changing rooms…
@Michael Carolan: Michael have you seen the state of rural roads. Are they going to provide cycle lanes on every road because otherwise it’s totally unsafe. Sorry but ur suggestion applies urban solutions to rural problems… grand if you live in Utopia… sadly we don’t. With respect Airy fairy thinking without realistic practical solutions will not get us very far and before you ask I hold my hands up and say that I don’t have s workable solution either.
@Michael Carolan: and the roads are adequate for cyclists to get to work and back safely and people can work flexible hours to add extra time for the commute to work not to mention the loss to already eroded family time. It’s just another tax on an already strangled public.
Cycling is fine if you live in an area that is suited to it but those are few and far between.
@Greg Murphy: if you think that you are,as brainless as those on the dail
@Greg Murphy: Can’t push people away from their car as we only have a part time public transport system which still thinks we all work mon to fri for some outdated reason. In over 30 years of work, I’ve never had a job that public transport is available for and they still have no intention of fixing the issue.
@Michael Carolan: Unfortunatly a lot of places simply dont cater for cyclists. even in Intel,most staff are not allowed access to showers or changing rooms.
@Greg Murphy: how is it. I live 80klm away from my job I start at 7 am and finish at 7 pm I’d be late for work every morning my boss wouldn’t be happy with that this government just wants to take every penny away from us and give nothing in return
@Greg Murphy: so people in the country (there is no bus service in the country) start buy horse and carts to get to work? Are you for real?
@William Bryan: he obviously lives in Dublin with a comment like that.
@Michael Carolan: not every worker is a racing snake like yourself, some people have medical problems and as for the 6 months of rain….
Absolute tosh. They’re several ways to get the big bash of cars off the road, into our cities each day and significantly reduce emissions but that’s not the real goal of course
Surprise surprise
What we need is an Org that represents Irish Motorists and we should go and protest and block streets like the ‘Kids’ and the ‘Extension Rebellion’ crowd .. that seems to get action.
Varadkars pension sorted .hungry hounds this government are
This is what happens when your country is under corrupt corporate governance
Thanks to Greta and the bullshit …Her family making millions and we pay higher taxes…Saving the environment ha ha ha
@Gerard Smyth: clown
@Gerard Smyth: yeah I’m sure petrol and diesel definitely wouldn’t have gone up if Greta had just’ve kept her mouth shut. Good one.
@Cupid Stunt: Oh great argument.
But lets not tax Google…makes sence.!
What’s €90m going to do?
@Damian Clarke: 90m in the back pocket for the boys in the Dáil
@Damian Clarke: Top up bonuses I’d say
@Damian Clarke: copper fasten their pension
FG’s slogan should be ” Vote Fine Gael, the party of promises, lies and betrayals”
The money should be ring fenced to improve public transport infrastructure.
@Adam Ryan: i agree, not to support electric vehicles companies. Electricity is still generated from fossil fuels and batteries are very polluting to produce so there’s no net benefit to the environment from electric cars. It’s hype. I concede they have use in polluted cities because you can move the pollution outside the city.
If the government were actually serious/concerned about the environment, they should make all public transport zero-emission by 2023. A marginal tax increase like this isn’t going to raise enough money to fund change or discourage people from continuing on as normal.
@Brian McCarthy: no such thing as zero emission transport- manufacturing vehicles is very polluting. The best thing is to have public transport instead of private cars. Rural transport needs to be rolled out. More bus services.
@SC: no mention of aviation
Cue the complaints about tax.
@The Thinker: hhmmmmm why?
Feck Government regime tax fuels
I will reduce some reasons for driving, I will stop going to the recycling yard and forget about our near zero waste household and start burning rubbish.
Incoming climate change deniers moaning
@D: wwwwwoah hang on there , I’m not a climate change denier at all but this is nuts. They’re applying a carbon tax in order to push people away from cars to public transport without providing that public transport. Also we all know that the money raised will NOT be ring-fenced for use in environmental projects but used to buy loads of magic beans and on consultants to advise them on the best and most efficient use of magic beans
@D: climate change due to ———- -population explosion
By How much tonight ?
Easy target for a robbing shower of dimwits
Kicking the can down the road again. Why wait until the summer to tax heating fuel.
@Padraig Fitzpatrick: common sense for a change, the question should be why tax home heating oil at all !
What less than 5 cents a litre on Petrol and Diesel we will still be cheaper than a huge amount of Europe stop moaning people it’s all for a good cause.
@tgemainman: people will still use the same amount of fuel. Upgrading to a 35k car is still going to cost more than buying a load of fuel, most will just continue burning fuel
@tgemainman: ah stick it up your hole. We’re a tiny country with no impact. India, china, brazil, russia, the states. Its just another tax ffs
@tgemainman: What planet are you on .. all for a good cause mehole
Where did the previous Carbon Tax revenues go ?
Where did the PSO levies revenues go ?
Where di the previoues over 50% tax on petrol & diesel revenues go ?
Where did the Sugar Tax revenues go ?
@tgemainman: you are an idiot telling us to stop moaning are you an ffg lover it sounds like it
@tgemainman: yes a good cause to keep the clowns in the Dail in their subsidised bar and pensions
They should abolish the dole, except for Elderly, Disabled or Widowed/ Widowers, any one of working age,calibre shouldn’t get it, also Rent allowance, Hap , all should be gone, free medical should go too, instead we all pay a Medical Insurance premium, childrens allowances all should go, very quickly we would have a Country of Entrepreneurs, definately tax big business , should introduce a road tax for Cyclists, scooters etc to pay for cycling infrastructure , lots of money wasted on lifestyles of the dole
I wonder how this is going to effect our International reputation?
@Jack Cass: what reputation? A nation like New Zealand maybe…full of sheep.
The easy mark again. Thieving incompetants
ah lol i KNEW this would happen. Public demand for government action to tackle climate change, and now everything they implement will be met with: ‘Oh that wont work, thats not fair’ ect ect ect
?
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