Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Let us say councillors take the decision raise taxes, which is not often an easy one as nobody likes to do it and it is often unpopular but if we are going to provide more local services it is the wise thing to do. I would often have spoken in favour of minor rises in the LPT when I was a councillor because I could see the value it brought in general across the county. The provision of services tends to provide greater value across a wider cohort of society than reducing property tax which puts the benefit onto the wealthier property owners, so it is progressive in that way. If a council takes a decision to raise property tax by 5%, 10% or 15%, the following year it resets back to the original figure and the council must go through that again in order, almost, to remain static. Has that been addressed in this new LPT Bill? I used to call it the local adjustment factor reset.