I move Resolution No. 10:—
(1) That the excise duties chargeable under Section 13 of the Finance Act, 1920, on the classes of mechanically propelled vehicles mentioned in the Schedule to this Resolution shall, as on and from the 1st day of January, 1927, be charged, levied, and paid at the rates specified in the said Schedule to this Resolution in lieu of the rates specified in the Second Schedule to the said Act.
(2) That whenever, on or after the 22nd day of May, 1926, and before the 1st day of January, 1927, duty is paid under the said Section 13 of the Finance Act, 1920, on a vehicle of the class mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph 3 of the Schedule to this Resolution, such duty shall be charged, levied, and paid at the rate specified in the said sub-paragraph (with the reduction appropriate to the period in respect of which the duty is paid) in lieu of the rate specified in the Second Schedule to the said Act.
(3) That sub-sections (2), (3), (4), and (5) of the said Section 13 of the Finance Act, 1920, as amended and adapted by subsequent enactments, and also all orders and regulations heretofore made thereunder and for the time being in force shall apply to the said duties when charged at the rates specified in the Schedule to this Resolution as fully as they apply to the said duties when charged at the rates specified in the Second Schedule to the said Act.
(4) It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1913.
SCHEDULE.
Excise Duties on mechanically propelled vehicles used on public roads.
(1) Vehicles being hackney carriages as defined in Section 4 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1888:— #
Tramcars |
15s. |
Other vehicles: |
|
Seating more than 6 but not more than 14 persons |
£28 |
Seating more than 14 but not more than 20 persons |
£40 |
Seating more than 20 but not more than 26 persons |
£52 |
Seating more than 26 but not more than 32 persons |
£64 |
Seating more than 32 persons |
£2 for each seat |
In this paragraph the number of persons or seats mentioned does not include the driver or his seat.
(2) Vehicles (including tricycles weighing more than 8 cwt. unladen) constructed or adapted for use and used solely for the conveyance of goods in the course of trade—
Being vehicles which are electrically propelled and which |
|
do not exceed 25 cwt. in |
|
weight unladen |
£6 |
Being vehicles other than such |
|
electrically propelled vehicles |
|
as aforesaid— |
|
Not exceeding 12 cwt. in weight unladen |
£10 |
Exceeding 12 cwt. but not exceeding 1 ton in weight unladen |
£16 |
Exceeding 1 ton but not exceeding 2 tons in weight unladen |
£30 |
Exceeding 2 tons but not exceeding 3 tons in weight unladen |
£45 |
Exceeding 3 tons but not exceeding 4 tons in weight unladen |
£60 |
Exceeding 4 tons but not exceeding 5 tons in weight unladen |
£75 |
Exceeding 5 tons but not exceeding 6 tons in weight unladen |
£90 |
Exceeding 6 tons in weight unladen |
£105 |
With an additional duty, in any case if used for drawing a trailer, of |
£12 |
(3) Any vehicle other than those charged with duty under paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of the Second Schedule to the Finance Act, 1920, and other than those charged with duty under the foregoing provisions of this Schedule:—
(a) vehicles in respect of which it is shown to the satisfaction of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health that seventy-five per cent. of the cost of producing the vehicle is attributable to manufacturing operations performed thereon or in relation thereto in Saorstát Eireann, £10.
(b) other vehicles to which this paragraph applies—
Not exceeding 8 horse-power or electrically propelled, £8.
Exceeding 8 horse-power, £1 for each unit or part of a unit of horse-power.
In the case of vehicles to which this paragraph applies which are hackney carriages as defined in section 4 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1888, and exceed twenty horse-power, no duty shall be payable in respect of the excess of the horse-power above twenty horse-power.
If any person proves to the satisfaction of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health that he has paid in respect of any vehicle to which this paragraph applies, the duty chargeable under this paragraph and that the engine of the vehicle was constructed before the 1st day of January, 1913, he shall be entitled to repayment of twenty-five per cent. of the duty so paid.
The most interesting part of this resolution is the Schedule. In the Schedule to the resolution are set out the charges which it is proposed to levy in respect of motor vehicles. In the case of 'buses and char-a-banes the increase is not very considerable. Deputies will see that the duty on tramcars is not touched. The duty on cars seating more than six but not more than fourteen persons, it is proposed to make £28, the existing tax being £24. In fact, right on down the list the increase is simply an increase of £4 in each stage. We propose to make the charge £40 where it was £36, £52 where it was £48, and £64 where it was £60. With regard to the other vehicles, however, there is a considerable difference. In the first category are electrically-propelled vehicles, which do not exceed 25 cwt. in weight unladen. The tax in that case was £6, and it remains as it was. In the second category are vehicles other than these electrically-propelled vehicles. In the case of vehicles not exceeding 12 cwt. in weight unladen, the tax was £10, and it remains the same; where these vehicles exceed 12 cwt. but do not exceed one ton, the tax which was £16, remains as it was. We now come to the changes. The tax on these vehicles exceeding one ton but not exceeding two tons was £21, and we propose to make it £30; exceeding two tons but not exceeding three tons—it was £25, and we propose to make it £45; exceeding three tons but not exceeding four tons—it was £28 and we propose to make it £60; exceeding four tons but not exceeding five tons—it was £30, and we propose to make it £75. Thirty pounds was the maximum, no matter how the weight increased. We have added two higher sums: exceeding five tons but not exceeding six tons—the tax is to be £90. Up to the £75 point our proposed scale is the same as the scale in Northern Ireland, except that instead of £75 they have an £80 tax, but their tax does not begin at one ton. It begins at one and a quarter tons, and ends with one and a quarter tons, so that the £80 tax would be for a vehicle exceeding four and a quarter tons, and not exceeding five and a quarter tons. As I have said, the tax on a vehicle exceeding five tons and not exceeding six tons is to be £90. The former figure was, of course, £30, and the Northern Ireland scale is £100. For vehicles exceeding six tons the tax is to be £105, the Northern tax being £100.
In the next section of the schedule we do not interfere with bicycles, invalid cars or heavy tractors. They are merely mentioned in paragraphs 1, 2, and 4. Our new scale applies to motor vehicles other than those vehicles in respect of which it is shown to the satisfaction of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health that 75 per cent. of the cost of producing the vehicle is attributable to manufacturing operations performed thereon or in relation thereto in Saorstát Eireann. There the tax is £10. That at present applies to the Ford car only. The old minimum was £6 for 6 h.-p. or under. We have raised the minimum charge on cars from £6 to £8 and then, from £8 onwards, it is £1 for each unit or part of a unit of horse-power. We exempt taxis from a higher tax than £20. IIeretofore, a taxi which did not seat more than six people paid £12. That was a flat £12 rate. We propose to charge them as private cars for the future with this exemption—that the upper limit shall not exceed £20. It was thought undesirable that a certain class of taxi, which might serve purposes of utility and be an attraction to tourists, should be put off the road by a high tax. There are probably very few of these vehicles and the amount of tax involved is not very large.
The rebate allowed in respect of engines constructed before 1st January, 1913, is continued, because it is intended, by Order, to go back to the method of calculating horse-power which was in use prior to January, 1923. When I was Minister for Local Government, the basis for calculation of horse-power was changed. It was changed because the British basis of the bore was extremely unfavourable to the Ford car. It meant that the Ford car was paying £23 when what you might call the corresponding car was paying only about £10 or £11.
We adopted the new basis of cubic capacity of the cylinder instead of bore, and that new basis gave the reduction to £18 for the Ford car. It operated to reduce the tax on most cars as well. There were a few increases, but, in general, the new basis we adopted reduced the taxation on cars. It is proposed to go back to that new basis which will give something over 15 per cent., in general, in additional taxation, on cars other than Ford cars. Going back to that makes it necessary to continue the rebate made on engines before 1913, because they were engines of a very wide bore. They were made before the manufacturers began to adopt the make of their engines to pay as little tax as possible, and they would pay an extremely high rate. It is an exemption which is in existence. It would not have been necessary to continue it if it was not intended to go back to the old basis of calculating horse-power.
The changes we have made in regard to char-a-bancs and goods vehicles will give us, it is calculated—having statistics of the numbers and various weights in existence—an all-round fifty per cent. increase in the amount of taxation paid by these vehicles. I think that is not unfair at all, because, as a matter of fact, it is that class of vehicle that does damage to the roads. As Deputies will see, we have not increased the tax on the lighter vehicles. Any vehicle not exceeding a ton weight will pay as heretofore; on the vehicle not exceeding two tons the tax has not gone up so tremendously—it is gone up £9. On ordinary roads the ordinary private car does not do a lot of damage. The damage is mostly done by the heavier vehicles, and we feel it is fair that a fairly substantial tax should be extracted, and that perhaps the really heavier ones should be discouraged somewhat.
The net result of the changes proposed in this resolution, taken with the next resolution, will be that there will be about £133,000 extra for the Road Fund. We believe that that substantial addition to the Road Fund will ultimately help to bring about a very considerable reduction in local taxation.
It is, as I said, proposed to borrow on the strength of the Road Fund, and to carry out works of a somewhat substantial character over a considerable mileage of roads. That, for all practical purposes, is only made possible by an increase of the Road Fund, because, as a matter of fact, there must be a year to year distribution. That is a practical necessity. In order to have a substantial borrowing this increase, or some increase, in the Road Fund was necessary. With the borrowing now possible, and the prospect of a fairly considerable increase in the Road Fund, we believe it will be possible to put the roads into such a condition that the maintenance cost will be lower, and we can probably get to this position: that the cost to the rates of the roads will not be more than 50 or 60 per cent. over the pre-war cost to the rates. If we can do that, we will be in a not unsatisfactory position at all.