Householders Hoodwinked by Government says Cllr Deirdre Heney

“The distribution of Property Tax to Councils around the country was recently announced and it clearly shows that the public was hoodwinked by Government into believing that the property tax would be used to improve services at local authority level.  The Government has now reduced the funding to local authorities and are using the property tax revenue as substitute finance.

Dublin City Council has the power to reduce the property tax in Dublin by 15% and I strongly support this move which should be made in the next few weeks.

However about €100 million collected in property tax, mainly in the greater Dublin and surrounding commuter areas, is to be distributed to 19 Councils who did not raise enough revenue in the collection of their property tax. This proves the point that I and others made, that is, that the property tax was and remains a Dublin tax because of the higher cost of housing in the city and county.

The 15% cut, if made, will help in the short-term but rising house prices will mean higher property tax in the next year or two.”