Local property tax funding
Darragh O’Brien calls for regulations allowing local authorities to notify Revenue of reduced property-tax rates without losing central-government funding.
Local authorities which reduce the local property tax should not be penalised by central Government by way of a cut to the their Exchequer subvention. Taking Fingal County Council as an example, the €40 million it will collect from the property tax should be additional to the funds it receives from Government. To reiterate, I am calling for the immediate publication of the regulations to allow local authorities to advise Revenue of reductions in the local property tax to be levied within their jurisdiction. I commend my Fianna Fáil colleagues in Fingal on doing as they said they would, namely, reducing the rate payable by home owners in that area.