Cork TD hits out at property tax proposals that could impact up to 100,000 additional homeowners

A CORK TD has hit out at the new property tax proposals, stating that homeowners in Cork and Dublin could be hit hardest by the new measures.

Solidarity TD Mick Barry has that there is nothing progressive about the Local Property Tax (LPT) which he described as being a tax on the family home.

It comes after Cabinet agreed on proposals yesterday regarding the LPT which include the requirement of owners of new homes built since 2013 to pay the tax.

Mick Barry TD said that the inclusion of homes built since 2013 will mean bills of approximately €500 a year for an extra 100,000 households and that the broadening of the bands will mean €90 a year increases for hundreds of thousands more.

He claimed that householders in the bigger cities such as Cork and Dublin would be hit hardest by the new measures as house prices had risen more quickly in these areas and increased valuations would tend to push up property tax rates there to a greater degree.

“There is nothing progressive about this property tax. It is a tax on the family home. 

"The new policies are designed to push the property tax take up over the half a billion euro per year mark. I will strongly oppose these measures in the Dáil," he said.

"Alongside the cuts to the PUP, this is a sure sign that the Government are shaping up to try to make ordinary working people pay the bill for the Covid crisis."

Speaking to RTÉ’s Six One news yesterday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the majority of people will not be paying more.

“It’s fair and it’s affordable is the objective of the recalibration of the property tax programme,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said that the Programme for Government published in June 2020 committed to bring forward legislation for the LPT on the basis of fairness and to ensure that most homeowners will face no increase and to bring new homes, which are currently exempt from the LPT, into the taxation system.

They said that all money collected locally will be retained within the county.

The Minister updated Cabinet yesterday about proposed legislation to address the future of the tax in line with these commitments.

The Heads of Bill will be published today.