Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 9 Nov 2000

Vol. 525 No. 4

Written Answers. - Excise Taxes.

Jim Mitchell

Ceist:

85 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Finance if he will indicate in respect of 1999 the amount of the selling price comprised of VAT and other taxes or excise of the total sales in Irish punts to business consumers, domestic consumers and to other consumers with regard to electricity, natural gas, bottled gas, coal, central heating oils, petrol, white diesel, red diesel and other fuels; and the percentage at which these were charged. [25381/00]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy):

Excise taxes are generally specified by reference to quantities of product, per 1,000 litres of petrol. VAT applies on the price of the item.

It is only possible therefore to give a representative view of the total amount of tax arising as selling prices may vary considerably from vendor to vendor. The following table provides information from a recent cross border survey by the Revenue Commissioners detailing the price of individual items on that date and the percentage of tax in each item. This collects information from the border region of the Republic.

Product	Price perLitre£	Excise perLitre£	VAT%	Total Tax take atthis particular price
Unleaded Petrol	0.74	0.29	21	57.2%
Lead Replacement & Super Plus Unleaded	0.85	0.36	21	59.2%
Auto Diesel	0.69	0.26	21	54.7%
Auto LPG	0.42	0.04	21	27.2%
Kerosene Home Heating	4.02	0.25	12.5	17.3%
Gas Oil	3.96	0.03	12.5	20.5%
Cylinder of Gas per 25 lbs	13.60	0.28	12.5	13.2%

There is no excise on natural gas, coal or electricity. VAT is at 12.5% and the price of these products are not surveyed by the Revenue Commissioners. While consumers will bear the full taxable cost, i.e. VAT and excise, taxable persons are able to reclaim the VAT as part of their business inputs with the exception of petrol. Goods or services which are part of their personal expenditure would however be subject to the full rate of VAT and excise. Red diesel is only legal for use in the United Kingdom and the equivalent used by agriculture etc. in this State is green. I do not have a national figure for the price of a litre of green diesel, however, the excise per litre is 0.03 pence and the VAT rate is 21%.

Electricity, natural gas and coal are subject to VAT at 12.5% while automotive fuels are subject to VAT at 21%.