Carbon taxes should be 'reversed and suspended' during energy crisis says TD

The carbon tax increase of €7.50 per tonne of carbon from €33.50 to €41.00 which came into place in May should be reversed and all further increases suspended for the remainder of the energy crisis, according to Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice.

Commenting on the regressive tax, the rural advocate said:

"We must now give strong consideration to the abolition of this tax. Carbon taxes in the current fiscal and energy climate are as outdated as the USC.

"Keeping this unfair inequitable tax as it is, fundamentally is wrong. Carbon taxes, penalizing all as they do, impact disproportionately on low-income people. This tax was always wrong. But they are utterly unfit for purpose in an age of energy poverty.

"Any justification of what is essentially a tax on working people has been swept away by the current crisis. It was always, at best, a blunt instrument from an administration that appears to take pleasure in punishing the working poor.

"However, in a scenario where people, especially pensioners, young families and the working poor are being increasingly forced to choose between food and fuel there is no valid case for its retention in its current form.

"As a start, any future rises in the carbon tax should be suspended for the duration of this crisis and this year's increase should be reversed.

"If the objective of the carbon tax is to increase the price of fuel, such as to limit its use, then the market is doing this all on its own. Axing this stealth tax simply recognizes that the market is achieving the same goal.

"In a scenario such as this, the carbon tax is now a double levy on the people. It is an outdated relic from the age of fiscal security in price and supply. Retaining it is simply purposely punitive and discredits the stated claim of its creators.

"It is an act of aggression from a class that can afford €40,000 retrofits of their South County Dublin homes and €60,000 new EV cars. It serves no valid social or economic purpose beyond engendering hostility amongst the public.

"The government should be brave and should be bold. Carbon taxes hurt the people. Stop hurting people.