GREEN PARTY leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley has ruled out a flat-rate property tax in next year’s budget. He has also discounted a flat-rate water charge.
There has been speculation that the Department of Finance is considering a flat-rate property tax as an interim measure until a comprehensive property valuation system is in place. “In the case of water and property tax, I think it has to abide by a principle . . . it should not be on a flat-rate basis,” said Mr Gormley.
“I know there are people out there who think this is the way to go, but once you do that you lose the argument. All the evidence is that people are prepared to pay taxes if they are brought in on a fair basis,” he added.
Mr Gormley added that if people were asked to pay a flat-rate water charge, they were then likely to use as much as they wanted and there would be no environmental benefit.
“Similarly, in terms of a property tax, I don’t think people believe a person who lives in a salubrious wealthy area should pay the same as someone living in a modest house. That is just not equitable. Therefore, I don’t believe it should proceed on that basis,” he said.
He also opposed the principle of a low-tax economy. “Seán Healy [director of Social Justice Ireland] is absolutely right. The idea that you have to be low-tax to be competitive is wrong. We can be competitive in the technology area and other areas but it doesn’t mean you have to be a low-tax economy. All of the evidence from all over Europe shows that is not the case,” he said. “I would like to aspire to the same sort of model you have elsewhere. If you look at what they do in France, in Germany or in the Scandinavian countries, that is the sort of model I aspire to.”
He reiterated his commitment to holding the Dublin mayoralty election this autumn, and said legislation providing for this would be introduced in the Dáil before the summer recess. “I said to the Taoiseach that if it was necessary we would have to sit for longer in July or whatever . . . I am resolved that we will have the mayoralty election in the autumn.”
A White Paper on local government was an equally important and inter-related project, and he wanted to get both of them done before the summer. He had no difficulty holding the three outstanding byelections on the same day as the mayoralty election. “Bring it on, roll the dice and see what happens. It is preferable from an efficiency and cost-effectiveness point of view that the elections are held together.”
He said there had not been a Cabinet discussion on these matters yet, adding it was only a little over three months since the Oireachtas committee report on the children’s referendum was published. “We have spoken about a referendum on this issue for over 20 years, so we have got to do it now. As far as I am concerned Barry Andrews is trying to do the job as quickly as possible.”
The Minister expressed his determination to press ahead with the legislation to regulate dog breeding, as well as the ban on stag hunting.