Ah, the Budget, the big and scary Budget. It’s being read out at the moment (live on RTE, mais oui), though if you don’t want to drown in a sea of figures and shouting from the benches, I recommend the nicely bullet-pointed version you’ll get on the news later.
So, what does this have to do with bikes? A lot, it would appear. I initially started writing this post in relation to Lenihan’s decision to impose a further tax of 8 cent per litre on petrol, which will clearly help to encourage people out of their cars and, one hopes, onto bikes. However, he has just announced that companies in major urban areas who provide car parking spaces especially for their employees will now have to pay an extra levy of €200 a year – and, more importantly, that tax incentives will be put in place to encourage people to cycle to work.
Good news, as far as I can see it, though perhaps on a day like today cycling doesn’t seem like the most pleasant option. Maybe that’s why certain TDs laughed when the word “cycling” was mentioned.
2 Comments
October 15, 2008 at 9:33 am
Are there any details about what these tax breaks for cyclists are yet?
October 15, 2008 at 4:30 pm
According to the official Budget website, http://www.budget.gov.ie, the ‘Cycle to Work’ scheme will work as follows:
“Cycle to work scheme
From 1 January 2009, the provision of bicycles and associated safety equipment by employers to employees who agree to use the bicycles to cycle to work will be treated as a tax exempt benefit-in-kind. The exemption may only apply once in any five year period in respect of any employee. There will be a limit on the value of such purchases of €1,000 for each employee. The scheme may also be implemented via salary sacrifice arrangements, whereby an employee agrees to forego part of his/her salary to cover the costs associated with the purchase of the bicycle and associated safety equipment. Where such salary sacrifice arrangements are implemented, they must be completed over a maximum period of twelve months.
The estimated cost of this scheme is €0.2 million in 2009 and €0.4 million in a full year.”