A TD has called for the Carbon Tax to be reversed and suspended for the duration of the current energy crisis.

The Carbon Tax increased by €7.50 in May, rising from €33.50/t to €41.00/t.

Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice has called for this increase to be reversed and for no further increases to be implemented until the energy crisis has passed.

“We must now give strong consideration to the abolition of this tax. Carbon taxes in the current fiscal and energy climate are as outdated as the USC [Universal Social Charge],” the Roscommon-Galway TD said, labelling the tax “regressive” .

“Keeping this unfair and inequitable tax as it is is fundamentally wrong. Carbon taxes, penalising all as they do, impact disproportionately on low-income people.

“This tax was always wrong. But it is utterly unfit for purpose in an age of energy poverty,” Fitzmaurice commented.

He said that the tax is “essentially a tax on working people”, and that “any justification for it has been swept away” as a result of the current crisis.

“In a scenario where people, especially pensioners, young families and the working poor are being increasingly forced to choose between food and fuel, there is no valid case for its retention in its current form,” the TD argued.

“As a start, any future rises in the Carbon Tax should be suspended for the duration of this crisis and this year’s increase should be reversed.”

According to Fitzmaurice, the current high prices of fuel and energy are having the same effect as the Carbon Tax.

“If the objective of the Carbon Tax is to increase the price of fuel, such as to limit its use, then the market is doing this all on its own. Axing this stealth tax simply recognises that the market is achieving the same goal,” he said.

Fitzmaurice added: “In a scenario such as this, the Carbon Tax is now a double levy on the people. It is an outdated relic from the age of fiscal security in price and supply. Retaining it is simply purposely punitive and discredits the stated claim of its creators.”