Future taxes must focus on pollution rather than employment, says Ryan

FUTURE TAXES should be “taxes on pollution” as opposed to taxes on employment, Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan said yesterday.

Commenting on the likelihood of a carbon tax in the next budget, Mr Ryan said a decision would have to wait until the report of the Commission on Taxation, which would be followed by discussions in Cabinet.

But he said he was in agreement with comments by the Economic and Social Research Institute (Ersi) during the week that competitiveness should not be harmed by new labour taxes.

“I have always said that what we should be doing is moving away from taxing labour to try and tax things we want to discourage like pollution. We want to protect jobs, create jobs and discourage things that are going to cost us money. Pollution costs us money,” he said.

Mr Ryan was speaking at the launch of a new report from green energy company BioPower. The report concluded that Ireland could become a leading producer of renewable electricity while significantly expanding job creation. It claimed that more than 80,000 jobs could be created by switching dependence from fossil fuels.

The Minister said such a switch had the potential to save the country up to €6 billion a year on external payments for oil and gas and the money saved could be invested in jobs in the Irish energy sector, while reducing carbon emissions.

“It is common sense,” he maintained. The Minister said a switch to green energy would save families money and reduce emissions. “The first way for the taxpayer to save money is to invest in energy efficiency in the home. Switching to a cleaner fuel actually saves you money, creates jobs and turns this country around.”

But he declined to be definitive on the prospects of a carbon tax, repeating that the Commission on Taxation’s report would have to be published and the Cabinet would have to discuss all proposals “for the autumn budget”.

Mr Ryan said his aim was to create jobs “in the new green economy and instead put the taxes on things that are costly. We should try to save money by using energy more wisely, and I think we can do that. We can start with the autumn budget, as part of a range of initiatives to helping green jobs”.

Dr Colin J Campbell of BioPower said the report showed Ireland had the capacity to become energy secure and self-sufficient and even an exporter of energy generated from renewable sources. These included wind, hydro, biomass – including the anaerobic digestion of waste sludges, ocean energy, geothermal and solar energy.

BioPower report

Potential for green energy jobs:

Wind22,000

Biomass14,040

Ocean energy6,000

Solar energy3,500

Geothermal1,500

Micro wind5,000

Indirect employment30,150

Total82,190