Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am advised by Revenue that the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009 amended the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 by providing for an 80% windfall tax on profits or gains arising from disposals of development land to the extent that those gains were attributable to a relevant planning decision.

Section 31 of Finance Act 2014 repealed the 80% tax rate on these profits or gains with effect from 1 January 2015.

The impetus for this latter amendment to the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 came from the views expressed by various parties in both the private and public sector, with which the Minister for Finance at the time agreed, that the windfall tax provisions were acting and would act as an impediment to land rezoning, land development and redevelopment and to land sales for development.

The reintroduction of such a windfall tax on a similar basis is likely to act as a disincentive to landowners to dispose of such property, which could be detrimental to the Government policy to encourage home building.

The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is developing a new national planning framework, Ireland 2040 Our Plan. It will provide a national planning framework to guide national, regional and local planning and investment decisions for the years ahead, building on and co-ordinating the existing regional and local authority planning processes.

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