Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 September 2020
70. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the special position of agridiesel and other agrifuels in the context of carbon tax in view of the lack of viable alternatives; if the matter will be taken into consideration when making future taxation decisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27618/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware, it is a longstanding practice of the Minister for Finance not to comment, in advance of the Budget, on any tax matters that might be the subject of Budget decisions.
In regard to the position of the agriculture sector and the impact of the carbon tax, the main agriculture exposure to carbon tax comes from its application to Marked Gas Oil (MGO) which is also known as agri-diesel or green diesel. MGO is subject to a very low excise rate. The overall rate of excise applied to MGO is 11.8 cents per litre, significantly lower than the overall rate applied to auto diesel of 49.49 cents per litre.
In Budget 2012 my predecessor made provision for a double income tax relief for farmers to compensate for the increase in the carbon tax from €15 to €20. Section 664A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides that a farmer may take an income tax or corporation tax deduction for farm diesel (including any carbon tax charged in respect of the diesel) and then a further deduction for farm diesel which is equal to the difference between the carbon tax charged and the carbon tax that would have been charged had it been calculated at the rate of €41.30 per 1,000 litres of farm diesel (the 2012 baseline).
