We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
THE COST OF taxing a car will increase by up to 25 per cent next year, depending on the age and emissions standards of the car, under measures unveiled this afternoon.
The proposals under Budget 2013 will see an across-the-board increase of 7.5 per cent on cars registered before 2008 – meaning cars with a 2-litre engine will see the annual tax bill jump from €660 to €710.
A more modest 1.4-litre car, meanwhile, will increase from €358 to €385. The smallest cars with a 1-litre engine will go from €278 to €289.
The increases are more steep for newer cars, which are taxed based on their emissions rather than their engine capacity.
The steepest jump will come for owners of cars emitting between 110g and 120g of carbon dioxide per kilometre of travel.
Their annual motor tax bill will jump by 25 per cent, from €160 to €200 per month.
In pure monetary terms, cars with higher emissions will continue to see their tax bill go up and up – with the least eco-friendly cars seeing an increase of €92 a year.
However, the owners of cars with lower or no emissions will see their tax bills fall. Emission-free cars bought since 2008, or electric cars bought before then, will see their tax fall by almost a quarter, to a flat rate of €120 per year.
Separately, the Vehicle Registration Tax paid on new cars - which is also calculated based on the car’s emissions – will go up slightly, with a segregation of the previous bands from seven to eleven.
Other reforms announced in today’s Budget will see an amendment to the current well-known system of registration plates – with slightly different plates assigned to cars depending on whether they are bought in the first or second half of the year.
From January, cars bought and registered between January and June will have the registration prefix 131, while vehicles registered from July onward will have the prefix 132.
The motor industry had sought the introduction of a second numberplate in order to distribute purchases more equally throughout the year. They argued that motorists currently perceive a car with an 07 registration plate as five years old, irrespective of when it was actually bought.
Some motor dealers – backed by independent TD Michael Healy-Rae – also argued that some motorists would not buy a car with a registration plate including a 13 prefix – fearing that the number could bring bad luck to their vehicle.
Announcing the proposal, however, Michael Noonan said the amended scheme would remain in place for 2014 and successive years.
Can’t they just sell some bitcoins to cover the losses
It’s all fugazi
My advice if you have a few bob spare is invest one weekends drink money in lite coins. Created by Google engineers its an alternative to bit coin and a couple of years behind it. When you consider a bit coin was what a few euro and jumped up to 700 or so at one point. A lite coin is about 11 euro a coin. If anything you cash out in months with what you invest I do see it climbing.
You could mine then but jesus its painful and even if you have best pc its not worth it
I got 2,200 xrp free – ripple. Waiting to see what happens. Sat on my free mined bitcoins for a couple of years thinking they would never be worth anything, how wrong I was :)
Thanks. Going to look into that.
Do check it out :) mining a bit coin your talking years to wsrn one coin in which case you fried a few gpu’s and a esb bill of small country. They are expensive to but also hundred for one.
That’s why I think lite coins could work. Would you really miss €100 next year if it falls apart but could get nice little return. There is few sites where you can see how much bit and lite coins ate trafing against $£€
@eye c u depends on the hashing power you have. If you have a knc 2 terrahash miner you will mine a couple of bitcoins a year at current difficulty. Scrypt based coins like litecoin/dogecoin are cheaper for the average person to get involved in. BTW you never told us how you got those scars?
From dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight. I told you that last week.
The sooner this renegade stops dragging out its 15 minutes the better it’ll be for Bitcoin as a whole!
You just have to love the word “allegedly”!
have your say