Tag Archives: green diesel

Joy in heaven

Posted on Saturday 5 January 2019 | 1 comment

I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

That’s from the Gospel according to St Wikipedia.

Revenue’s figures, though, suggest that most of us are compliant, with around 99 per cent of taxpayers willingly handing over what the State believes is due.

Assuming this is true, the best way that Revenue can ensure the habit continues is to continue enforcing the rules effectively. Not because this scares people into paying, but because it reassures the vast majority who do that those who do not stand a good chance of being caught.

That’s from the Cantillon column in the Irish Times of 5 January 2019.

And to think that, just over four years ago, Cantillon was arguing for the continuance of a tax scheme under which 99 per cent of taxpayers were evaders. We rejoice at his or her conversion to the paths of righteousness.

Give that columnist a 99, Agent 99.

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Modern matters

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Diesel

Posted on Thursday 3 January 2019 | Leave a comment

Now that the Department of Finance and the ISA have raised the white flag and abandoned the tax-evaders’ delight, the Mineral Oil Tax scheme for private pleasure craft, I thought I might rewrite my page on tax-dodging boat-owners. The version here is completely new.

Owners who wish to pay the tax in 2019 for 2018 will find information here. Private owners want Form PPN1; the link on that page still shows last year’s form but it may be possible to use it, changing the dates as appropriate. That’s what Revenue told me to do last year.

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Modern matters, Operations, Sea, Shannon, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

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Dear Irish Sailing Association …

Posted on Friday 21 December 2018 | 4 comments

On those grounds, the Court (Eighth Chamber) hereby:

Declares that, by not ensuring that the minimum levels of taxation applicable to motor fuels laid down by Council Directive 2003/96/EC of 27 October 2003 restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity were applied to gas oil used as fuel for propelling private pleasure craft, and by permitting the use of marked fuel for propelling private pleasure craft, even where that fuel is not subject to any exemption from, or reduction in, excise duty, Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 4 and 7 of Directive 2003/96 and Council Directive 95/60/EC of 27 November 1995 on fiscal marking of gas oils and kerosene respectively;

Orders Ireland to pay the costs.

Vilaras, Malenovský, Safjan

Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 17 October 2018.

… up yours.

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Posted in Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Politics, Sea, Shannon, Waterways management

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Mineral Oil Tax

Posted on Friday 19 May 2017 | 2 comments

Here is a list showing the number of returns for Mineral Oil Tax, the number of litres declared and the tax paid. Everyone in Ireland who owns a diesel-powered boat, and fuels it with green diesel, should be making a return; clearly very few are, and I suspect most of the litres (and the money) come from the hire firms. If that is so, their business is improving again.

Year Payers Litres Amount
2010 for 2009 38 n/a n/a
2011 for 2010 41 n/a n/a
2012 for 2011 22 141,503.29 €53,398.58
2013 for 2012 23 301,674 €113,841.45
2014 for 2013 20 279,842.4 €105,561.74
2015 for 2014 26 289,151 €108,934.80
2016 for 2015 18 371,666 €140,021.51
2017 for 2016 21 384,150 €144,724.65

As far as I can make out, in the nine months ending 30 September 2015 (the latest figures I can find here) the Irish Sailing Association [PDF] received €899,000 and individual sailing persons a further €114,000 from the taxpayer. Furthermore, pretty well the entire cost of the inland waterways is met by the taxpayer.

 

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Modern matters, Operations, Politics

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Patriyachtism

Posted on Monday 25 July 2016 | 1 comment

It will be recalled that, for many years, the governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Ireland subsidised the owners of private pleasure craft by allowing them to use the cheap diesel permitted for off-road use (not that farmers should get subsidies either). The EU (or whatever it was called at the time) told them to stop; they asked for, and received, several derogations to allow them time to comply; during that time they stuck their thumbs in their collective bums and did nothing. Eventually the EU got fed up and told them to get on with it.

The Irish government’s pretence at compliance was particularly ludicrous and contemptible. It said that yacht-owners (using “yacht” as shorthand for “private pleasure craft”) could continue to buy marked gas-oil (cheap or green diesel) at the rebated (cheap) price but that, once a year, they should tell the Revenue Commissioners how much they had bought, work out the amount of the underpayment and pay that sum to the Revenue.

I can’t imagine how the Revenue Commissioners thought that was going to work, but they seem to have been happy with a scheme that facilitated — nay, encouraged — tax evasion by those sufficiently well off to own yachts. Someone in the Irish Times, perhaps after having had his or her ear bent over a few pink gins at the bar of the George, referred to this as an “honour system”; there was no evidence that she or he had actually checked the compliance rate to assess the effectiveness of the scheme and the extent of honour amongst yacht-owners.

The figures for the year 2015, as of 15 April 2016, were kindly supplied by the Revenue Commissioners some months ago; here they are, with those for previous years.

For the record:

Year Payers Litres Amount
2010 for 2009 38 n/a n/a
2011 for 2010 41 n/a n/a
2012 for 2011 22 141,503.29 €53,398.58
2013 for 2012 23 301,674 €113,841.45
2014 for 2013 20 279,842.4 €105,561.74
2015 for 2014 26 289,151 €108,934.80
2016 for 2015 18 371,666 €140,021.51

I suspect that the increase in the number of litres paid for might represent the improved business for the hire fleets in 2015, but I would welcome information on the subject.

In 2015 the Irish Sports Council gave the Irish Sailing Association €1,121,900.

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Modern matters, Politics, Shannon, Water sports activities, waterways

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Big it up for the Kingstown Blazers

Posted on Wednesday 15 April 2015 | Leave a comment

Hats off to the Irish Sailing Association for its successful campaign to persuade owners of diesel-powered pleasure craft to pay the Mineral Oil Tax. The ISA reckoned that, if more folk paid up, the nasty foreigners might allow boaters to continue to use patriotic green diesel:

It may already be too late to save the present diesel supply system in Ireland, but the very least we can do is to strengthen the country’s case by paying the tax. If we don’t do that, we won’t have a leg to stand on.

There have been other press releases since then, and the ISA has said that

The issue for leisure sailors is not the price of diesel but its availability.

Which suggests that it’s only a series of misfortunes that has prevented 99.75% of owners from paying the tax they should have paid. Perhaps the dog ate their chequebooks.

But the ISA put its shoulder to the wheel, its nose to the grindstone and its money where its mouth was, calling on other people to pay up. And, by golly, they did. It is no doubt as a result of the ISA’s call that the number of folk paying Mineral Oil Tax in 2015 (for 2014) was …

30%

… up on the previous year’s figure.

Admittedly that just meant it went from 20 to 26, so the non-compliance rate is still around 99.75%, but let us not mock honest effort. If the number continues to increase at six a year, there will be full compliance by the year 3677, which will be good; I look forward to recording the event.

For the record:

Year Payers Litres Amount
2010 for 2009 38 n/a n/a
2011 for 2010 41 n/a n/a
2012 for 2011 22 141,503.29 €53,398.58
2013 for 2012 23 301,674 €113,841.45
2014 for 2013 20 279,842.4 €105,561.74
2015 for 2014 26 289,151 €108,934.80

The income generated by the tax is about 10% of the amount the ISA gets from the state every year.

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Politics, Sea, Sources, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

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Better drowned than duffers

Posted on Friday 13 March 2015 | 1 comment

The Irish Sailing Association is at it again, lobbying for the retention of a system under which the vast majority of owners of diesel-powered private pleasure craft can safely engage in tax dodging.

The ISA folk don’t want you think about that part of it so, although they say that they hold “no brief for those who have not complied with the current arrangements”, they concentrate on all the disasters that will befall leisure sailing folk if they can’t buy cheap diesel. Apparently there will be outbreaks of scurvy, plagues of locusts and unwanted exercise if boaters can’t continue to buy subsidised fuel.

You can read it all here if you want a laugh, but Commander Walker’s immortal words come to mind:

BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WON’T DROWN.

If owners of private pleasure craft are as nitwitted as the ISA say …

Leisure vessels would go to sea either overburdened with spare cans of fuel, or with insufficient reserves on board. Distress situations would arise and lives would be at risk.

… they will at least have the consolation of knowing they may be nominated for the Darwin Award. But I don’t believe they are, and I believe in the power of the free market: if seafaring yachties have to use white diesel, a supply will arise to meet the demand.

The ISA are asking us to ignore the elephant in the room: to treat as an incidental and minor side-effect the fact that (by my reckoning) 99.75% of those who should be paying tax are not doing do. That scale of tax-dodging means that the current scheme is a complete failure, indeed a farce. It would have been really nice if the ISA had used their accumulated brainpower to devise schemes whereby yachties (and other owners of diesel-powered private pleasure craft) would have to pay the full price for their fuel.

The ISA say …

The issue for leisure sailors is not the price of diesel but its availability.

… but the fact that (at a rough guess) only 0.25% of them have been paying the proper rate of tax for the past five years, even though all they have to do is to send a cheque to the Revenue Commissioners, strongly suggests to me that “leisure sailors” are keenly interested in the price and have few qualms about ripping off the state.

According to Practical Boat Owner 584 March 2015, one Harry Hermon, described as “chief executive of the RSA”, said:

The ISA’s role is to promote the sport and to protect the interests of Irish sailors, hence the ISA’s interest in this matter. It is not the ISA’s remit to regulate or to enforce regulation.

But what the ISA is doing goes well beyond the neutrality that that suggests: it is actively promoting and lobbying for the retention of a scheme that facilitates tax-dodging by boat-owners. The ISA’s stance might be slightly less irritating if their friend Cantillon in the Irish Times hadn’t been prating about an “honour system” for paying the requisite tax. In 2014 just 20 boat-owners paid the tax for 2013 [I have not yet got the figures for 2015, covering tax due for 2014], which suggests that honour is not to be relied upon.

You might think that the ISA would have an interest in the financial health of the state: after all, the taxpayers give them over one million euro a year. But perhaps, in the yachting world, it’s more blessed to receive than to give?

Background

The ISA are lobbying because the European Commission has taken an interest.

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, People, Politics, Sea, Uncategorized, Water sports activities, Waterways management

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Roll up! Roll up!

Posted on Thursday 29 January 2015 | Leave a comment

Download the form for paying Mineral Oil Tax on green diesel used for private pleasure navigation here [PDF]. The Kingstown Blazers are relying on you to save green diesel supplies:

It may already be too late to save the present diesel supply system in Ireland, but the very least we can do is to strengthen the country’s case by paying the tax. If we don’t do that, we won’t have a leg to stand on.

After all

How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

 

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Sources, Water sports activities, Waterways management

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Green diesel

Posted on Thursday 27 November 2014 | 2 comments

Big it up for Messrs Breakingnews.ie for the information that the European Commission is taking Ireland to court over the ludicrous regulations for the use of green diesel in private pleasure craft. The topic has been covered here more than once, most recently here; I discussed the ludicrous regulations here.

Breakingnews.ie says that Ireland ignored the EU’s “letters” (presumably the Reasoned Opinion) on the subject. That is consoling, because my own requests for information about Ireland’s response to the Reasoned Opinion have likewise been ignored.

The EU’s press release is here; the EU notes that

While Irish law requires craft owners to pay to the Revenue the difference between the tax paid on marked gas oil and that due if the gas oil had been charged at the standard rate, the low number of tax returns indicate that the minimum level of taxation is not applied.

Indeed.

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Politics, Sea, Shannon, Tourism, Uncategorized, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

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Marked fuel

Posted on Wednesday 16 July 2014 | Leave a comment

The European Commission is taking the UK government to court because it

… does not require fuel distributors to have two separate fuel tanks to distinguish between the lower tax marked fuel and the fuel subject to the standard rate.

As a result, owners of pleasure craft sometimes (poor dears) find themselves with no choice but to buy red diesel and they may not pay the right amount of tax, which is no doubt a cause of great sadness to them.

As I (and the Irish Examiner) reported some time ago, the Commission is also coming after Ireland’s ludicrous arrangement. Ireland was to respond to the Reasoned Opinion by 16 June 2014; the Revenue Commissioners have not told me how (or indeed whether) they responded.

 

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Sea, Sources, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

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