Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Bill, which Sinn Féin will be supporting, addresses a fundamentally unfair situation, which gives rise to people in managed estates being adversely penalised and which could be considered a form of second tax. The Sinn Féin position is that it would abolish the property tax. We made this clear in our alternative budget. The property tax is effectively a tax on family homes and because of the mismanagement of the economy by Fianna Fáil and subsequent Governments, many families, often paying high rates of property tax, remain in negative equity. Sinn Féin councillors have been to the fore in reducing the property tax, where feasible. While this is not a complete remedy, it can be seen as an interim measure towards the ultimate abolition of the property tax. Residents in managed estates can legitimately argue that they are getting no effective financial relief when, in essence, they are being taxed on the double. Residents pay management company fees for lighting, roads, streets, cleaning, maintenance and so on. Such services fall within the remit of local authorities. They are provided by the latter in those areas not under the care of management companies. This is the purpose of a property tax and it is why funding from the property tax is ring-fenced for local authorities. If local authorities were properly funded, however, there would be no need for a property tax.

Some here like to equate the property tax with the payment of rates in the North, as if those paying property tax in the South are somehow getting a better deal. Those who try to make that this comparison between the two are fundamentally wrong. They are either deliberately in denial or do not understand how the system in the North works. People do not pay property tax in the North; they pay rates that are progressively levied. What they get for paying their rates is a quality of service that is just not provided in the South. People in the South are expected to pay rates and a local property tax. In addition, many of the services previously provided by the local authorities have been farmed out to private companies. As a result, people often have to pay additional fees for the provision of these services. The fees for bin collection are an obvious example.

In some areas, people are paying ridiculous annual bin collection fees while also paying weekly collection fees. Previously, that service was provided by local authorities. It should be returned to them.

Sinn Féin is committed to scrapping the local property tax and to the proper funding of local councils. We should not have to rely on a regressive family home tax in order to provide essential services for local communities. Give proper funding to local authorities and abolish the property tax.

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