John Dolan: My home heating bill is huge, thanks to Trump... and Harris

As the first chills of autumn begin to consign our long, hot summer to the memory banks, many of us will be planning a September ritual that can send a shiver down the spine.

Filling the home heating oil tank for the winter is always an expensive task - but in this cost-of-living crisis, it is going to be a particularly painful chore.

Sure, many city-dwellers don’t have this problem, but more than 700,000 Irish households — around 45% of the total — do rely on kerosene for their heating.

A typical domestic tank has capacity for 1,000 litres, and last year, filling it for the winter would have set you back around €900. A hefty sum.

But that was last year.

The war in Iran has sent oil prices soaring since, and this month that same 1,000 litres - which may or may not see you through the winter, depending on your usage and how harsh the weather is - will cost around €1,350. Ouch.

At this juncture, it’s only right and fair to lambast Donald Trump for his crazy decision to start a war with the world’s 17th largest country, whose rulers see death as martyrdom, and really don’t care how many civilians join them in whatever after-life they find.

Suffice to say, this ‘swift’ U.S war has become a running sore, and 190 days later, Trump is still waving his fist at Iran, bombs are still being traded, while oil prices remain stubbornly sky-high.

I’m not sure how mad, bad, and dangerous Trump is as the leader of the free world, but he is certainly a danger to my wallet.

However, I don’t think this should exempt another politician from criticism for the high price of home heating oil.

Trump’s war on Iran has not just ratcheted up prices of the precious commodity as winter looms, but it has shone the light on the crippling amount of tax Finance Minister Simon Harris siphons off whenever we fill up our tanks.

Of that €1,350 we will pay for 1,000 litres of kerosene, the tax take is an eye-watering €330, a sum made up of €160 in carbon tax and a further €170 in VAT.

Interestingly, there is a reduced VAT rate on home heating oil, down from 23% to 13.5%, in recognition of the fact it is such a vital commodity for households. But it hasn’t attracted the even more reduced rate of 9% allocated to home heating gas and electricity, which was introduced in 2022 and will stay in place until at least 2030.

The same 9% rate has been gifted to the food and catering industry to dig it out - those of us filling our oil tanks for the winter are clearly not worthy of such a dig-out.

Why is that?

As for the carbon tax slapped on kerosene, we can be grateful that future increases on this have been deferred in recent weeks, while still being angry that we are having to pay so much in the first place.

The deferral didn’t really help us, they just cancelled plans to soak us even more!

And, remember, when the price of a commodity rises, so does the tax take on it. A nice little earner for the Treasury.

Part of the reason why carbon tax was brought in was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Ireland: the crude assumption being that the dearer it is, the less we will use.

Well, war in the Middle East has jacked up prices enough to curb our usage, but the carbon tax remains, curbing our usage even further, and raising lots of money for the government, while adding to the misery of people who merely want to heat their home for the coldest months.

It’s worth reminding ourselves that under existing plans, the carbon tax on home heating oil is due to increase by €53.50 by the end of the decade.

And Simon Harris would be looking to collect all of that, if it wasn’t for that pesky Donald Trump!

What will now happen in the coming months is that many of us will purchase half a tank of heating oil - still very expensive at almost €700 for 500 litres - instead of a full tank, and hope that prices have fallen by the time that is used up in midwinter.

Buying 500 litres is not cost-effective, as you pay less per litre for 1,000 litres - but few of us can afford to splash out the full whack in a cost-of-living crisis.

All of this contributes to a feeling that we are getting poorer.

A recent Eurobarometer survey found 70% of Irish adults regarded the cost of living as the main challenge facing the EU, compared with an EU average of 39%.

Almost a third said they had cut back on heating because of higher energy costs.

And, yes, Simon Harris can point to the fact the government has provided some supports recently to partly alleviate the burden of sky-high oil prices.

But this crisis has also put the focus on the crippling taxes we already pay to warm our homes, whether Trump is on the warpath or not.

When prices got dearer at the pumps for motorists, the government were quick to step in when protesters took to the streets. Sadly, homeowners don’t have the haulage industry representing them when it comes to heating oil.

In many ways, kerosene has become the forgotten fuel, while petrol and diesel suck up all the publicity. This fact was recognised by Fuels For Ireland CEO Kevin McPartlan this week, when he suggested that more focus should be applied to home heating oil.

“There’s quite a lot of variance with home heating oil and there hasn’t been any gesture made on that by Government really,” he said.

“It’s going to be 50% more expensive if somebody tries to fill up their home heating oil tank this autumn than it was at the start of this crisis back in February.”

Alas, all we can do for now is buy what kerosene we can afford, and live in hope that the war in Iran will have ended by the new year.

Whether Simon Harris’s taxation policy will have changed by then, remains to be seen.

But I have more a lot more hope of Trump seeing sense than our Finance Minister.