Put bumper €3.68bn fuel tax receipts into cost-of-living supports, Government urged

The Government has now been urged to put this money into additional cost-of-living supports and measures to help solve the housing crisis.

Revenue raked in a total of €3.68bn last year from mineral oil, solid fuel, natural gas and electricity taxes as well as fuel and energy Vat.

This is a jump of around €120m from the previous year, where €3.56bn come in from fuel taxes.

During the height of the pandemic in 2020, this fell to €3.16bn. In 2019, €3.58bn came in from fuel taxes and €3.6bn in 2018.

So far this year, the State has made a total of €1.12bn from fuel taxes.

The latest figures were set out by Finance Minister Michael McGrath in response to a parliamentary question from Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who said ministers are “secretly creaming a fortune” from the cost-of-living crisis “behind the scenes”.

He said the figures are an “outrage”.

“It is cruel to reap income off the back of the current humanitarian crisis in terms of fuel. Tax rates on fuel and carbon tax must be reduced further and the pot of money the Government is currently sitting on must be tapped into in terms of housing and economic supports for the vulnerable at this time of emergency.”

The figures come as the price of diesel and petrol is set to rise at the pumps in the coming weeks, putting the Government under further pressure to act to help hard-pressed families in the lead-up to the Budget.

Petrol will rise by 6c, diesel by 5c and marked gas oil by 1c per litre.

Further increases will follow in September and October as the Government moved earlier this year to wind down supports at the pump, which it put in place as part of its package of cost-of-living measures.

Paddy Comyn, the head of communications at AA, said prices for petrol and diesel are now the lowest in 18 months.

However, he said the phased hikes from June will see prices at the pump near €1.80 per litre by October, when the third increase kicks in.

“Even with things as they stand and with the forecast increases, we still won’t be back up to the prices we saw a year ago, when the Government had to step in,” he said.

Fine Gael has vowed to put in place further cuts to income taxes in the upcoming Budget and the Green Party has also promised to cut childcare costs by a further 25pc, having already cut them by a quarter in last year’s Budget.

With further interest rate rises looming from the European Central Bank, politicians have batted away calls from the opposition for mortgage interest relief.

Minister McGrath is putting banks under pressure to make it easier for borrowers with performing mortgages to switch back to retail banks if their loans were sold to vulture funds.