According to data released to Aontú TD Paul Lawless, the government collected €340.4 million in carbon tax in the first three months of this year. This compares with €1.2 Billion collected in the whole of last year.
Speaking today, Deputy Lawless said: “What we can see from these figures is that despite the government’s decision to defer the upcoming increase in carbon tax, they are still making a fortune from fuel taxation. The most conservative estimate suggests they are still on track to take in hundreds of millions more in carbon tax this year than the previous year. The significant increase expected in 2026 does not even take into account the fact that the government is intent on increasing carbon taxes further in October this year”.
Deputy Lawless continued: “Separate figures released to Aontú show that the amount of carbon being used in this country is going down. So the amount of carbon consumed or released in Ireland is reducing and yet the amount of tax paid on carbon is increasing each year. This is clearly a cash cow for the government. I’ve made the point before that if the purpose of carbon tax is to push people to alternatives, then there is no point putting carbon taxes on green diesel and punishing farmers who have no choice but to use green diesel – there is no alternative. You cannot cut silage with an electric vehicle”.
“It is clear that we’re fighting a losing battle against the emissions targets which the government has signed us up to. The Environmental Protection Agency projects that at best Ireland will reach a 23% emissions reduction against a binding EU target of 42%. We’re definitely going to miss these targets. The fine for missing them is anywhere between €3 billion and €26 billion. This would cripple the country. Aontú was the only political party to vote against the Climate Action Bill in the Dáil because we knew it would lead to carbon taxes and fines from Europe. The carbon tax has to go – postponing the increase to October won’t cut it” concluded Lawless.
