For years now in Ireland we have watched taxes and prices increase. And whilst yes in this year's budget money (in tiny amounts) was given to people via welfare contributions and other sources, money was also taken (in larger amounts) from other areas, such as VRT and Fuel.

Cars and taxing people's car is just as common as cigarettes increasing each year in budgets. To quote an independent politician recently "if you fill your car with €100 of fuel today, the shopkeeper who works in the shop and has people and wages to pay gets just €3.90, the companies that operates the refineries and drills the ould and deliver it all around the country gets €34, and the government who sits in the dail and have nothing to do with producing or supplying the fuel gets a whopping €54"... This has got to change.

Not only do Irish consumers (you and me) pay higher rates and prices for cars than most other countries (due to VRT) we also get lower spec cars for that larger cost in comparison to other countries, as the manufactors of these vehicles try to 'off set' the cost of the Irish governments VRT.

People need to realise that VRT isn't just a tax you are charged for importing vehicles, VRT is charged on ALL vehicles. Even if you go into a car dealership to buy a brand new Ford Focus (as example) you are charged a huge VRT fee for the licence plate. And as always if you import a car from another country you get charged this huge tax also. 

So not only do the government get the huge VRT charge, they then also get the tax on the sale of the car and then to add insult to injury they get over 50% of the cost of the amount of fuel you put into that vehicle afterwards... And as we all know the road tax and car insurance is another very expensive item in our country also (that's an issue for another day).

 If you live in a commuter town/village/area and have to commute to work each day you are looking at handing over thousands of euros each year (before you pay for your car, your road tax, your insurance and any servicing or repairs your car may need) each year just on fuel alone! This needs to change. And it needs to change fast. Modern day Ireland is already too expensive, it's getting to the stage that if you commute to work, by the time you pay your home bills and house bills, you are stretching you're weekly wages to the point that it's putting a lot of people on the bread line. 

Let's not forget, fuel and VRT increases affect the transport companies (for obvious reasons). This in turn will affect your purchases, businesses will have to increase their charges which pushed the suppliers to increase their prices, which pushes the manufactors to increase their price which at the end of it results in us having to pay higher prices for EVERYTHING. From the dinner you put on the table, the oil and service items you put in your car, the new tv you were planning to buy for your new X-box, to the phone you're most likely holding in your hand, it affects everything.

If you're an Irish motorist and you've had enough of this, then please, sign this petition, let's try getting it to 100,000 and have our voices heard. Let this be a warning to the powers that be in the Dail, that if change is not introduced, if VRT isn't abolished or massively reduced and the taxes on fuel lowered, then we the Irish motorist and enthusiasts and transport companies will protest and bring this country to a stop.