A call has been made for properties flooded during Storm Desmond to be exempt from property tax.
The demand was made as the Dáil debated a Bill which gives property tax exemptions to homes affected by pyrite and on the properties of disabled people.
The Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No 2) Bill also gives effect to the budget proposal to defer the revaluation date for the property tax from November 1st 2016 to November 1st 2019.
In sharp exchanges with Minister of State for Finance Simon Harris, who introduced the Bill, Fianna Fáil’s Seán Fleming asked him to give a commitment that houses now flooded “will not have to pay the local property tax for 2016 to 2018 inclusive”.
Mr Fleming said the Taoiseach had said Mr Harris was going to a number of flooded towns including Bandon, Crossmolina, Athlone and Portumna in the coming weeks. The Minister of State “cannot say that flooding is terrible but people must pay their local property tax at the start of January”.
Mr Fleming said Mr Harris should make “some effort” for people “so they will not have to pay local property tax in the first week of January in respect of houses they will not be able to live in over Christmas”.
Relief schemes
But the Minister rebuffed the Fianna Fáil public expenditure and reform spokesman and said he was being extraordinarily partisan about what was a national emergency. Mr Harris said Mr Fleming knew very well how flood relief schemes and funding worked.
The Minister highlighted the €430 million for flood relief schemes over the next five years, the €15 million emergency fund and the business relief scheme which had been announced for those who could not get flood insurance with the first €5,000 effectively on an honour system.
He added that there was already a situation where if a house was uninhabitable it might be exempt from property tax. “If a home is flooded, its value will obviously have a bearing on the figures submitted to Revenue.”
Sinn Féin enterprise spokesman Peadar Tóibín introduced an unsuccessful amendment to abolish the property tax.
Independent TD Clare Daly welcomed the tax relief for pyrite-affected houses but she said they were too restrictive because many homes were affected but were not damaged enough for the most serious category and were thus excluded.
She also said there was inconsistency in the Revenue’s approach and the Bill “leaves too much scope for the Revenue to make onerous requests”.
