FINE GAEL has expressed doubts about the proposed new property tax contained in the report of the Commission on Taxation which is expected to be delivered to the Government in the next few days.
The Labour Party has expressed concern that ordinary families might be hit for more tax when the report is implemented.
Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton said a new annual tax on people’s homes was “problematic” as previous governments had tried and failed to design a new system of property taxation that was accepted as equitable by the Irish public.
“On top of the usual difficulties facing households with low levels of income, we now have possibly hundreds of thousands of young families that were lured into massive mortgages and negative equity in part to pay stamp duty to the Government. It is difficult to see how this will be acceptable.”
Mr Bruton said the Government still did not recognise that people would only accept pain if they also saw leadership with a clear road map to economic recovery and a better future.
“Hundreds of thousands of Irish families are already on the brink of desperation, particularly young families in their 20s and 30s, exposed to massive mortgages, negative equity, falling take-home pay and zero job security.
“While the Government is busy setting out new taxes and cuts and ways to bail out the banks, it is silent on people’s real concern – generating new jobs.
“There is a real danger that this generation will turn their back on this country and seek a better life elsewhere.”
Mr Bruton said his party welcomed some of the ideas in the commission’s report on broadening the tax base so as to prevent further increases in tax rates for middle-income families.
“Irish people know there will be pain in the years ahead because of the reckless management of the economy in recent years.
“But we will only accept harsh measures that are fair and equitable.
“That is why we must be very careful in assessing the social as well as economic implications of recommendations coming from groups like McCarthy and the Commission on Taxation,” he said.
Labour Party finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said she would await the publication in full of the report before making a detailed response. but there were a number of surprising aspects to the reported conclusions.
“Most surprising of all is the absence of any apparent reference to the phasing out of the tax reliefs available only to the wealthy and particularly to the property-based reliefs that contributed so significantly to the Irish property bubble and the consequent economic crisis.”
Ms Burton said recently-published figures from the Department of Finance showed the extent to which the super-wealthy were still able to avail of these reliefs, and there would be real anger and disappointment among ordinary taxpayers if the commission did not recommend the ending of this scandal.
“It is also a matter of concern that the focus of attention appears to be on additional new measures that will hit lower and middle-income families,” she said.
The 700-page report from the commission will be considered by the Government in the coming weeks and is expected to be published in the middle of next month.