Cash-strapped motorists pay more to tax by instalment

By SIOBHÃÂN HOLLIMAN OVER a quarter of all vehicles taxed in Co Galway last year were determined as being off the road for a period of time, at a cost of €7.5 million. It has also emerged that more than a thousand Galway motorists are struggling to pay €170 to tax their car for a year and are opting to purchase half or quarterly discs. This year almost twice as many motorists who are taxed on their carâ€â„¢s emissions are handing over €48 to cover three months, compared to the same period last year. Motorists whose car was registered before July 2008 pay motor tax according to its engine size, and this is usually considerably higher than for newer cars. Last year an overwhelming majority of owners of older cars paid their car tax in quarterly amounts, compared to motorists whose vehicles are taxed on emissions. The difference between the tax rate varies considerably, up to hundreds of euro in many instances. But cash-strapped motorists are also being penalised for not being able to find the annual lump sum and will pay at least an additional 12 per cent per annum for taxing their car every three months. In 2012, 61,711 cars that are taxed on engine size paid motor tax on a quarterly basis compared to just 2,322 motorists whose cars are taxed based on emissions. Just under 15,000 motorists who are charged on engine size paid their tax in a once-off annual sum last year compared to 8,000 motorists who pay according to emissions. However the figures for the first three months of this year reveal a dramatic change. Twice the number of motorists who are taxed on emissions are now opting to pay their car tax on a quarterly basis compared to the same period last year. So far this year 2,600 cars have been taxed in Galway for a full year based on the emission rate, while 820 motorists have opted to buy a three-month disc and 600 have taxed their cars for six months. Non-use The high number of vehicles sanctioned as having periods of non-use in the county seems to indicate that motorists are avoiding paying tax arrears by claiming they werenâ€â„¢t using the vehicle. Close to 138,000 tax discs were issued for the county in 2012 but 27 per cent of these included a period for non-use. Galway Co Council has put the value of the missed periods of tax at €7.5 million. Last year the total value of the tax discs issued amounted to just over €30 million. By the end of March this year 32,206 vehicles were taxed in Galway but more than 8,000 of these included a non-use declaration, valued at €1.3 million. The majority of private cars in the city and county were registered before the 2008 emission tax change. In the first three months of this year 3,300 taxed their car for the year, 2,800 taxed their car for six months and a whopping 13,808 cars have been taxed for just three months. While the three-month figure is very high, it is a drop of about 1,500 on the same period for last year. However the figures indicate that there will be fewer vehicles taxed in Galway during 2013. A motorist with a pre-2008 registration and a 1.6 engine is charged €544 per annum but would have to pay €153 per quarter, an extra €68. Motorists who fail to renew their tax disc in time must also pay arrears for the lapsed period unless they claim the vehicle hasnâ€â„¢t been used and was â€Ëœoff the roadâ€â„¢. Any period of non-use must be signed and stamped by a garda. However itâ€â„¢s accepted that the system is often abused as it is difficult to verify the non-use. But the Government is planning to close this loophole and legislation is being discussed to change the system. In future motorists will have to declare the vehicle off-the-road at the start rather than retrospectively.