Sir, – I find the proposal to tax road vehicles in proportion to distance, and hopefully also in proportion to vehicle mass, quite reasonable.
In fact that’s essentially what we do when paying duty for fuel which is consumed in proportion to distance travelled and the weight of the vehicle; and it is already a cost incurred by commuting rural residents who trade convenience for more space and lower property prices.
That being said, I would hope that such a tax would be levied exclusively on road vehicles for the sake of covering road maintenance, rather than vehicles in general such as shipping, aircraft which already pay directly for the use of ports and airports as required, or likewise personal flying vehicles, should they appear, that don’t extensively rely on State infrastructure. – Yours, etc,
NICK BUCKNELL,
Bray, Co Wicklow.