Mr. Tim Fenn:

It is difficult to figure out where the site value tax will go. We understand that few countries have introduced a site value tax. It is inherently inequitable. There could be three sites in a row in the same location. One might be empty, one might have a large industrial plant, and the other might have a small industrial plant, but they would all be taxed the same way. Any local authority rates should be equitable. We are worried about where that is going. We have spent a long time trying to introduce an equitable system for charging local authority rates for businesses. As Mr. Gallagher mentioned earlier, hotels have been paying enormous local authority rates. Some hotels pay over €500,000 a year in local authority rates before even opening their doors. We are saying that, whatever change there is to site value tax, there has to be some equity in the method of valuation. I understand that even when the site value tax was introduced, at least one country has now decided to add a property tax to it too. On its face, it sounds like a great idea, but we believe it is full of peril.