Sir, – It is with great interest, that I wait to see what valuation the Government will suggest for my home when it comes to paying the proposed new property tax, given that my local authority has a Section 47 condition placed on it, preventing it from being sold in the next 10 years.
How will the Government deal with this, and indeed the many other burdens of title that exist in the property world when it comes to implementing this new tax? I also wonder will any consideration be given to the development levy of €13,500 that I paid to the authority for local services, presumably, the right to bore my own well and install my own septic tank. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – According to the Department of the Environment and the Minister, Phil Hogan, the whole point of the planned property tax is to pay for local services that are currently funded by central government. But this point seems to be unknown to, or perhaps is being ignored by, some of your recent correspondents on the subject. Indeed, based on her comments, it even seems to have escaped the attention of our Minister of State for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton.
May I point out that the size of a property has no bearing on the services the property or its owners have access to? This being so, why should size be used to determine the rate at which a property is taxed? As we know, these services include street lighting, maintenance of pavements, public parks, open spaces and recreational areas, libraries, public transport, street cleaning, the fire service and other related services. If a property is close to, or is provided with, all of the services mentioned then it should incur a higher rate of tax than a property with less access to such services.
Fintan Cronin (September 11th) illustrates the difference between the tax due in respect of a house in Dublin and against a similar property in rural Ireland.
Where I live there are no street lights. There are no parks or recreational areas and the open spaces are mostly inhabited by farm animals. There are no pavements and no regular road-cleaning. It is cheaper for me to buy a book online and have it delivered than to incur the cost of driving to and from a distant library, pay for parking while there and then repeat this process to return the book. The nearest, and can I state infrequent, public transport is a drive of several miles distance. The only service to which I can claim access is the fire service, and if I am ever unfortunate enough to need it a call-out charge will be imposed on me. Why should I have to pay the same amount of property tax as someone who does have access to those services?
There is paying your fair share, but that has to be balanced by having access to your fair share. – Yours, etc,