Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The single biggest complaint about the local property tax I hear in my constituency in Mayo is that people feel it is a local tax and expect to see local services from it, but they have not seen any difference in local services since it came into being. The Minister faces a very difficult task in making this an equitable tax so that citizens see a return for what they pay. I agree with Deputy McGrath's assessment; it does not really make sense for local authorities to take in the same amount if there is going to be an increase in LPT for 80% of taxpayers and only 20% will see a reduction. I would like to see the methodology behind that. It does not seem to make much sense.

Consider the example of somebody in County Mayo who has a three-bed semi-detached property valued at €130,000 or even less. He or she should be paying considerably less property tax than somebody living in a very affluent part of Dublin like Killiney or Howth, where the level of public services is very different. In rural parts of Ireland there are really no transport services. Far fewer services are available. We must address the feeling among citizens that they do not get anything back for the LPT, that it just goes into the State coffers and is spent on things like overruns on the national children's hospital or the national broadband plan. Citizens have not seen any tangible difference in the provision of local services since the LPT was introduced. I would like to hear the MInister's views on this. Some local authorities are extremely cash-strapped, if I can use that term. They run on deficits and struggle to provide basic services. Other local authorities have additional moneys and can provide lots of local services. The variation between the services local authorities can provide and the resources available to them is so wide. The Minister would need to address that issue to get support for changes to the LPT.