Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have a problem with the Title of the Bill on a number of grounds. First, I cannot figure out what piece of property someone owns if they are in negative equity. If a person's income is below a certain threshold and the tax is deferred, the liability can follow that person around, even after their house has been repossessed. Second, the word "local" is a misnomer. Only 65% of the revenue raised will be spent locally. The other 35% could be redistributed in a very unfair way.

The Title is important. It is wrong to call this a Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill.

The local authorities have had their funds dipped into in the past two or three years and there is now a gaping hole. This is a way of substituting for that by making people pay a tax that in many cases is essentially a form of income tax because it is coming out of their wages or social welfare payments in the same way as a normal PAYE deduction. It is dishonest to call it a property tax.

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