Dr. Tom McDonnell:

One of the things we talked about in the context of the Commission on Tax and Welfare was a move away from the current method of funding local government and replacing the existing structures with something along the lines of a site valuation tax. That would put the onus on the owner instead. Much of that would eventually fall on the business anyway, but not necessarily. It could be a more efficient structure. Would that reduce the costs for businesses? Not necessarily. It might be a bit more of a rational way to do it but there would certainly be winners and losers in that regard. We need to take great care in how we design that method.