INDEPENDENT Rural Ireland TD Richard O’Donoghue claims that Limerick motorists currently pay more than €500,000 a day in ‘forecourt tax’ to the Government.
“The cost of fuel has risen alarmingly in the last week or so, which has also helped on the Government front as it takes easily the largest share of each litre purchased,” O’Donoghue told the Limerick Post.
“On today’s figures the tax take at pumps in Limerick is €15 million a month, up from €10 million last September when I first raised the matter in the Dáil,” he stated.
“If the Government had only listened and put a freeze on their take back then, and it was well within their remit and had been happening across the EU at the time, Limerick motorists would not have been out of pocket by this extra €30 million. That Limerick motorists continued to pay over €500,000 a day in ‘pump tax’ is white-collar crime.
“This Government is the wealthiest fuel merchant per head of population in the World. The grim reality is that many motorists are close to financial brink due to the Government supported dramatic increase in fuel during 2021 and now well into ‘22.”
Deputy O’Donoghue went on to describe it as “bitterly unfair and deeply hypocritical” for the Government to lecture the public on using green energy sources, while at the same time benefiting from increased tax revenue from traditional fuels.
“Government Taxes on fuel should be halved until the end of 2022, and an emergency VAT cut on energy bills is also necessary to alleviate poverty, he concluded.
