I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 15 together.
The ECOFIN Council have agreed that cars will be subject to the standard VAT rate after 1992, when a minimum rate of 15 per cent will apply. The Council have also determined that purchases in another member state of vehicles liable for registration will be subject to VAT in the country of destination at that country's rate. In addition, the agreement reached allows member states generally to introduce or maintain taxation on products, including cars, provided such taxation does not give rise, in respect of trade between member states, to formalities in connection with border crossing.
I am sure that Deputies are well aware that duty on motor vehicles is a very important source of revenue for the Exchequer and I have made it clear that budgetary realities require that this revenue must be preserved after 1992. However, as the present system of collecting and safeguarding the excise duty on cars depends on checks at the frontier, or at points of entry to the State, it will have to be modified. Alternative systems for collecting the tax are currently being studied; while I am not yet in a position to indicate the nature of any replacement tax, or to indicate how it would be collected, a registration based system is an obvious possibility.