Dr. Se?n Healy:

We are much more positive about a site value tax. I believe it would be a fairer system across the board and would have the potential of ensuring that all land got used and that its value was measured in a fair way so that the tax would be tied to the value of the ground on which it is based. For us it was not about making a more productive use of the land; it was more about how do we get to a point where we do not have people in all sorts of different situations having to be charged a particular price for being there. As against that, the report is basically saying, as was pointed out, to retain the local property tax and then use the site value tax to cover various other pieces and so on. I am not privy to the discussions that went on in the commission but there is the an issue whereby we must not let the best be the enemy of the good.