Eye to revenue not the environment

I totally sympathise with Monica Muscat (Penalised For Owning An Older Car, November 20). My situation is similar to hers in that I own a 12-year-old car and take care of its bodywork and mechanical condition. However, I am even worse off because its engine is slightly less than 2000 cc.

Because of its age and engine size I find that to renew my licence will cost me over twice as much and well over €300, increasing year on year thereafter. As with Ms Muscat, my car always sails through its VRT, being fitted with a catalytic converter and a system for recycling 50 per cent of the exhaust gases.

I am, therefore, prompted to ask upon what scientific basis is an older car reckoned to be over twice as polluting as a new one. My suggestion is that no scientific tests have ever been carried out. Looking at the differences in the tables, what recognition has been made that diesel engines, because they are different, are always of greater capacity (ccs) to produce the same power output as that of a smaller petrol engine?

Thus, the tables for the new circulation tax have been calculated on a purely arbitrary basis to produce as much revenue as possible with no heed of what the effect might be in individual cases.