The Taoiseach told this House on 29 January 1985: "Our rates of excise are very high, at or near the top of the EC league." Despite that, the Minister for Finance suggests to this House that we impose a further £15 million on what he already calls an excessive rate of excise tax. That is my first point. Secondly, there is an increase proposed of 11p per gallon on petrol. If you take an average consumption of 12,000 miles per annum, which is 30 miles per gallon, you are talking about roughly 450 gallons. That works out at approximately an extra £50 per year for the average motorist with average consumption. I make that about £1 per week.
It is very important at this stage of the debate on this resolution to be quite clear on what is happening. This £1 extra cost to the Irish motorist makes up half the tax concession which the Government is giving. Take a man with three children on £10,000 a year, according to the Government's figures he would be better off by £2 per week; but we will show where the rest of that £2, apart from the half I have mentioned, will go. One half is gone on this Resolution No. 6 tonight. The other half is spread throughout children's allowances. VAT and the like. That means that the £2 is long gone. Most people will have spent £3 or £4 in return for that £2 which they are getting in regard to PAYE. This is a net loss to the average taxpayer.
That point cannot be hammered home too often. As Deputy Flynn has said, the number of car owners has fallen. That is a point which came out last year. The point should be borne in mind. It is not getting through that in real terms in 1982 we took in, under this heading, £245 million. The following year we took in £275 million and the next year £282 million. Last year we took in approximately £289 million, or £290 million. I am putting these figures forward to show quite clearly that if the price went up the revenue from that price, mainly because of the reduction in the number of cars purchased, fell from £100,000 to £56,000 in two years. The revenue from that tax came down. That is quite obvious from the figures I have put before the House just now. Of goods in this country, 95 per cent go by road freight, which adds to the cost of industry. The cost of freight to Irish industry is 25 per cent higher than all our EC competitors. That further erodes competitiveness, adds to the cost of Irish industry and in the end will probably reduce the final receipts under this heading of tax which makes the whole thing worthless.
I cannot do any better than quote from the Confederation of Irish Industry budget submission to the Government. They put it extremely well, saying that road haulage is an internationally traded service. The rapid expansion of exports offers an opportunity to Irish hauliers to transport these goods by road destinations across Continental Europe and to bring goods from these countries back to Ireland. Irish road transport firms have today the potential to obtain at least half of this internationally traded business. Their current share falls far, far short of this target. They conclude by recommending that taxation on auto diesel oil should be reduced by at least 20 per cent as a first step towards bringing Irish transport costs into line with the European average and therefore increasing Irish exports, with a net benefit to the Irish economy. That submission from the Confederation of Irish Industry makes sense to everybody but the Government.
I have two questions to put to the Taoiseach in conclusion. First, what would the price of a gallon of petrol be today if the reduction in oil prices had been passed on to industry and the consumer? Secondly, what is now the total percentage tax take from the gallon of petrol?
