Budget 2009 - Excises

Increase in Mineral Oil Tax on Petrol

The mineral oil tax on petrol will be increased by 8 cent per litre (including VAT) with effect from midnight on 14 October 2008. The same increased rate will apply to aviation gasoline from 1 November 2008. The new unleaded petrol rate is €508.79 per 1,000 litres.

Tobacco Excise

The excise duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes is being increased by 50 cent (including VAT) with a pro-rata increase on other tobacco products with effect from midnight on 14 October 2008.

Alcohol Excise

Excise duty on a standard bottle of wine is being increased by 50 cent (including VAT) with effect from midnight on 14 October 2008. Pro-rata increases are also being applied to other wines, and certain other fermented and intermediate beverages.

A reduced rate of excise duty is being introduced for lower strength beer and lower strength cider and perry which, when VAT is included, amounts to a reduction of 19 cent on a pint of beer not exceeding 2.8% volume and 28 cent on a pint of cider not exceeding 2.8% in volume from midnight 14 October 2008.

Excise Licences

A range of alcohol–related licencing fees, including off-licences but excluding pub licences, are being increased to €500 in each case. These increases will apply from the appropriate renewal dates in 2009.

Betting Duty

The betting duty rate will be increased from 1% to 2% with effect from 1 January 2009. Betting duty is charged on bets placed with a bookmaker, other than on on-course bets. Bets placed on the tote are exempt.

Air Travel Tax

An air travel tax applying to all departures from Irish airports will come into force on Monday 13 March 2009. The general rate applying will be €10 per passenger with a lower rate of €2 for shorter air journeys (those under 300km).

The Finance Bill will provide that the tax will be payable by the appropriate airport authority to the Revenue Commissioners in respect of passengers departing from Irish airports on or after 30 March 2009. In effect the airport authority will collect the tax from the airlines.

The air travel tax will not apply to:

passengers under 2 years
disabled passengers and assisting persons
aircraft with less than 20 passenger seats
transit passengers
members of the crew
air services to and from Irish offshore islands
aircraft departing airports that in the previous calendar year had less than 10,000 departing passengers.