Sir, – I am grateful to Colm Murphy (March 15th) for his considered comments on my letter regarding the re-introduction of rates for agricultural land.
Farmers are liable for the residential property tax, but farmhouses without farms have little or no market value (with obvious exceptions). Including land on a self-assessed basis would lessen the local tax burden for other payers. Taxing land would also lower land prices, thus encouraging more new entrants to farming and discouraging the speculative holding of land.
The Wexford farmers, supported by the Irish Farmers Association, who successfully challenged the obsolete rating system, did not argue on the grounds of immobility of land. I should be surprised if a court were to accept such an argument for not paying a tax. – Yours, etc,
JOHN O’DONNELL,
Menloe Gardens,
Blackrock,
Cork.