Fuel Levy - M50

Hallowed

Anyone heard anything about this. Caught the end of an article on the radio this morning. Something about a levy being added to fuel prices to fund barrier free tolling on the M50???

ballooba

Isn't barrier free tolling supposed to fund barrier free tolling?

hugejeans

Saw this, this morning:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1212/m50.html?rss

PaddyFagan

There's a reasonable article in the Times today (see http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/motors/2007/1212/1197321664339.html - no login required) - the objections to barrier free tolling are being held today. The AA are one of the key objectors claiming that the cost of collecting the toll will be 30% of the revenue and they should do something else to raise that amount which doesn't cost so much to collect - which is where the suggestion of putting additional tax on petrol comes from.

BUT for me the key bit in the article seems to be that the key reason for the toll is not to raise money, but as a tactic to control the volume of traffic on the M50. And the AA are arguing that it would be better to build alternative roads to support the traffic volume rather than using a toll (where much of the money raised is wasted collecting it) to discourage the use of the M50.

Paddy

peasant

The AA has claimed the new technology that would replace the barriers would be enormously expensive and complex.

It wants the tolls to be abandoned and replaced with a 2c per litre 'infrastructure levy' on fuel.

What?

2c per liter ...for what infrastructure?

I don't drive anywhere near Dublin ...or anywhere near a good road for that matter .

Will those 2 cent per liter buy me my own pothole ...or what?

egan007

Surely the point is

"The State will take control of the toll-bridge from August after it bought out the contract to operate it from National Toll Roads."

Now we "the state" own the road.
The road has been paid for by private motorist (twice)

Why do we still need tolls on it?

It should be integrated into the normal tax system.
It's old infrastructure paid for many many times over....

RobAMerc

Brilliant - so rather than build proper infrastructure they build crap and toll it so fewer people will use it. Therefore causing chaos on all of the route around the M50 from people trying to avoid the toll.

This is some fu*ked up country!
Seriously wonder whats the point in trying to live here anymore.

C_Breeze

hugejeans wrote: »

Saw this, this morning:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1212/m50.html?rss

Sounds good to me , I wouldnt be opposed to that at all.

mike65

How many times are we going to pay for the M50 tolls?

Mike.

hugejeans

Looks like we'll be paying for it until 2035!! can you imagine what they will be charging by then!

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1115/m50.html

cjt156

The current upgrade work is part-funded by tolls. Do you think your tax only pays for the road you drive on? Or the lights on your street and not mine?

Does a portion of my taxes fund white lines and stop signs in Sneem?

Wise up guys. Millions of trips each year are interrupted by a stupid piece of infrastructure; open it up and pay for the road system from general taxes; don't waste 25Million to collect 80Million.



BTW I don't use the toll bridge regularly - so its not a personal saving to me.

peasant

cjt156 wrote: »

The current upgrade work is part-funded by tolls. Do you think your tax only pays for the road you drive on? Or the lights on your street and not mine?

Does a portion of my taxes fund white lines and stop signs in Sneem?

Wise up guys. Millions of trips each year are interrupted by a stupid piece of infrastructure; open it up and pay for the road system from general taxes; don't waste 25Million to collect 80Million.



BTW I don't use the toll bridge regularly - so its not a personal saving to me.

If memory serves correctly, I will be paying an extra 9.5% road tax from February onwards ...you can have that for your M50

Why should I have to pay an infrastructure levy on fuel when there is no infrastructure where I am?

In the 10 years I've lived here, I've used that robbing bridge 5 times ...and paid for it every single time ...I don't owe that bridge on the other side of the country anything ...coming to think of it ...the money that was wasted there (and filtered into private accounts of the owners) would have filled a nice few potholes around where I live.

craichoe

I thought road tax was supposed to be for the road network :rolleyes:

mike65

I could play the regional wealth card here, those who use the M50 are overwhelmingly working or living in Dublin. Dublin per capita income is substantially higher than any other region so quite why poorer peeps in the sticks should cough up for the road of wealthier folk is byond me.

Mike.

maidhc

mike65 wrote: »

I could play the regional wealth card here, those who use the M50 are overwhelmingly working or living in Dublin. Dublin per capita income is substantially higher than any other region so quite why poorer peeps in the sticks should cough up for the road of wealthier folk is byond me.

Mike.

Humm... shhh.. most people here don't actually realise there is life outside the outer bounds of the M50. It is the dividing line between civilisation and the great unwashed.

Romero

What the hell are the AA playing at? We're over charged on all aspects of driving be it motor tax, tax on petrol etc, so what if its going to cost 25 Million a year to put toll free in place if they are taking in 65 million a year thats a healthy profit in anyones books !

lightening

peasant wrote: »

...you can have that for your M50

Eh... its your M50 too You have used it more times than me!

I do agree though. The road tax has to cover it.

Regarding the affluance of people using the M50, I would imagine a lot of them are working in Dublin, but can't afford to live in Dublin. Not fair on them either.

TheBigEvil

Romero wrote: »

What the hell are the AA playing at? We're over charged on all aspects of driving be it motor tax, tax on petrol etc, so what if its going to cost 25 Million a year to put toll free in place if they are taking in 65 million a year thats a healthy profit in anyones books !

Looks like we need a big protest. As motorists we should be one of the biggest lobbiests in the country. Arnt' we all just fed up paying large motor tax that doesnt go on roads, large taxes on petrol/diesel, and large VRT/VAT rates on our cars.

They take €5/6billion in taxes off the motorists and all we do is bitch and moan.

We need to organise people! A leader needs to rise from the conjested streets!

Lets get off our arses and do something!

galwaytt

TheBigEvil wrote: »

Looks like we need a big protest.

The more I hear these, the better I like it.

Only 1 problem - one queue of 10,000 cars on protest will look just like........one queue of 10,000 cars on...........their way to work/home/traffic. How would one notice there was a protest on?:rolleyes:

cjt156

We don't pay "Road Tax" we pay "Motor Tax" and its used to fund your local authority.
I've never been to Sneem, why do I have to have a section of my taxes pay for their street light? I've never claimed maternity benefit (to my knowledge); I've never utilised a Methadone program - yet my taxes pay for that too.

If you only ever paid for what you use then we'd all be on our own - you'd have to build your own feckin' roads! There;s plenty of cr@p I'd rather not be paying for, but it doesn't really work like that does it?

peasant

cjt156 wrote: »

We don't pay "Road Tax" we pay "Motor Tax" and its used to fund your local authority.
I've never been to Sneem, why do I have to have a section of my taxes pay for their street light? I've never claimed maternity benefit (to my knowledge); I've never utilised a Methadone program - yet my taxes pay for that too.

If you only ever paid for what you use then we'd all be on our own - you'd have to build your own feckin' roads! There;s plenty of cr@p I'd rather not be paying for, but it doesn't really work like that does it?

yees ...but ...:D

The toll bridge used to be just that ...a toll bridge ...me no use it, me no pay for it

Hallowed

As Peasant said - I will be paying 9.5% extra road tax next year and this should cover any improvements to the road network including the M50 and any other roads be they in Dublin or wherever Peasant lives. Road tax next year will be around 10% higher overall revenue to the government on existing cars plus whatever new cars come on stream. This should more than cover a decent road network in addition to whatever is budgeted.
As for the M50 toll - I would rather burn a gallon of petrol avoiding it than give it to the thieves who run it.:mad:

cjt156

Hallowed wrote: »

As for the M50 toll - I would rather burn a gallon of petrol avoiding it than give it to the thieves who run it.:mad:

Agreed wholeheartedly - whether that's privateers or the Govt. So lets lift the barriers and do away with the toll. And lets not replace it with a wasteful system that will spend €25M per yer to recoup €80M.

While we're at it do away with Motor tax and VRT - put it all on fuel; the more efficiently you burn petrol the less you pay overall (and vice versa, unfortunatly).