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THE ISSUE of introducing a residential property tax “would have to be thought out with great, great care” and was not going to be “rushed into” by the Government, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said yesterday.

Speaking on RTÉ radio after publication of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) Bill, Mr Lenihan said there would be “a fundamental issue in equity” if people who had paid “substantial stamp duties” on the purchase of houses at the height of the boom were now asked to pay property tax as well. The tax burden in general was “high enough” and the Government was already committed to the introduction of a carbon tax. In that context, imposing a property tax was “a very complex proposal”.