Vol. 430 No. 5
116 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there is no provision in current legislation from 1 January 1993, for local authorities to charge motor tax from other than the date of registration of an imported car irrespective of whether the car is written off or off the road; and if he will consider legislative proposals to change this so that only operative cars that are on the road will be charged motor tax.
Prior to 1 January 1993, the registration and licensing of vehicles was administered by the local authorities and it would have been normal practice, at that time, for car owners to apply for registration and licensing of new or imported cars simultaneously. However, registration is now carried out by the Revenue Commissioners upon payment of the relevant vehicle registration tax, if any; licensing continues to be administered by the local authorities.
Given the established pattern whereby an application for registration was indicative of the availability of a vehicle for use, it was decided, in order to avoid the creation of any opportunities for abuse, that vehicle licence duty should normally be due from the date of registration. To ensure that motorists have sufficient time, following registration, in which to licence, tax, a vehicle, provision has been made in the new arrangements, by way of a "good defence" mechanism, so that a motorist will not be penalised for the use, driving or parking of an unlicensed vehicle in a public place within seven working days of registration by the Revenue Commissioners.
In the interest of road safety, I would not favour any road tax concession which might encourage the importation of cars which have been "written off" in road accidents. Furthermore, I would be seriously concerned that any general acceptance of claims that cars being imported were "off the road" between registration and first licensing could lead to many spurious claims and thereby create a serious "loophole" in the road tax code.
