10 July 2001: Ireland has the fourth highest level of motoring taxation in Europe, an extensive new survey reveals.

Only the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark impose heavier penalties for the privilege of owning and driving a car. And even then we virtually match them on severity of treatment for 2-litre and 1.6-litre cars.
Relatively speaking, owners of cars around the 1,000cc level fare quite well and rank below the European taxation average.

The tax burden imposed for such items as petrol, car purchase and tolls is highlighted in the study of 14 European countries.

And the place to be is Luxembourg, the research shows. Driving there costs least of all those surveyed.

High Irish taxation levels are even more sharply put in focus, however, when factors such as our often feeble and fragmented roads' infrastructure are compared with the level and quality of the networks in the so-called more expensive countries.

British motorists, who enjoy far better roads, complain most loudly about prices and taxation but their tax burden is only around the European average. And they do not even have our penal levels of Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) to contend with.

The study was conducted by Middlesex University in an attempt to put motoring costs in a better, broader context. It is expected that more details and greater analysis will be unveiled later this year.

The current placings from the highest taxed down: The Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Britain, Italy, France, Belgium, Greece, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Luxembourg. CFC