Yeah, looks about right. There a lot of extremely ordinary houses around me that would have 1k+ charges if the LPT was unfrozen. Don’t forget also, if a local authority feels a bit strapped for cash, they can lash an extra 15% on your LPT on top of the standard charge.
I gather plans for local councils to be self funded through property tax were scrapped because city councils (especially DLRCC and SDCC, one assumes) would be awash in cash, while rural councils would be broke. If the idea is that it’s a wealth tax then that’s fine (ish - it should surely be levied only on the portion of your house you own in that case?). If it’s supposed to pay for local services then leafy South Dublin is unfairly hit.
As a whingey non-property-owner my heart doesn’t bleed for them, but it’s hard to justify the current setup from any set of first principles I can think of.
I’d gladly pay more property tax for improved facilities. Cork has a new park which compares favourably to Phoenix park on relative scale, if not absolute, and it can’t be opened right now for lack of staff.
If a councillor knocked on my door and presented these projects I’d happily be supportive of extra LPT.
Sadly I’d be in a minority of people amongs a sea of ‘they should do this and the other and I shouldn’t have to pay for it. How dare they tax my home’
LPT will rise by at least 60% overnight in 2019 and perhaps as much as 100% if we consider the national lowballing that went on with self estimated band valuations in 2012/3.
It is most likely there will be an election in 2018 after that magic ‘third’ budget is dusted in December 2017 and the LPT rise will be deemed ‘automatic’ according to some ‘formula’ that the 2018 government will of course blame on someone else, Lehmans/Troika/Enda Kenny/Michael Noonan…you know the shite already.
I bet you that silly bint Madigan will not ask any pointed questions of Donohue in the Dáil anyway. Not now, not ever.
I wouldn’t underestimate Josepha’s survival instincts. She made her name saving Mount Anville from the scourge of poor people. She saw off Shatter in the last election.
I agree it’s unlikely she’ll ask Dail questions. Her tactic will be to moan and moan and moan. An anti LPT candidate in a few SCD constituencies might concentrate minds ? Sindo gets a few quotes from angry residents associations and does headline that they’re “considering running candidates”
I paid the LPT in the post office over a week ago and it’s still showing in the Revenue online system as unpaid. Would have thought it would show as paid by now?
Murphy claims that LPT was introduced to provide better public services at a local level.
This was never true, it was explicitly introduced so that taxes on employment wouldn’t have to rise further.
Otherwise, the article is really about the opaque mechanism for setting exchequer grants to local authorities. It is extremely difficult to do this fairly and consistently. But this is the case in every country on the planet.