Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 3, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: "Report outlining a roadmap for the removal of local property tax from principal private residences without loss of revenue to local authorities

3. The Minister shall, within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report outlining a roadmap for the removal of local property tax from principal private residences without loss of revenue to local authorities.".

This amendment again calls on the Government to prepare and lay before the Dáil, within three months of passing the Bill, a report outlining "a roadmap for the removal of local property tax from principal private residences without loss of revenue to local authorities". Obviously, that would be done through the Exchequer funding the local authorities with the money that would be lost.

It will not come as any surprise to the Minister that Sinn Féin opposes the local property tax. Every year, we present the Government with an alternative budget in which we fully account for phasing out the tax, an alternative way of doing things and a way of scrapping the local property tax while also funding local authorities with the revenue they would forgo.

The Government, including the Minister, has claimed the legislation is necessary because of the revaluation in November, but the revaluation is a political choice. It is not set in stone; it is a measure Government has introduced. The political choice has had consequences. We have seen deferrals in the past. The revaluation should not be applied because it will force people into higher bands and therefore to pay more local property tax. As I have said on numerous occasions, we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, a crisis that is really biting down hard on so many individuals.

Instead of doing what is right, the Government is pushing ahead with a revaluation to reflect the runaway cost of housing. It is responsible for that runaway cost because we know it is not just evident here in the capital or indeed the larger cities. House prices have spiralled completely out of control as a direct result of the failure of the Government's housing policy. It is planning to increase the tax on individuals. For many people, their house is not a clean asset. They will have a liability, a mortgage, so the house will not be a net asset. We proposed a wealth tax that would include property but with exemptions. It would apply to net wealth and therefore loans and mortgages on the property would be subtracted from the value.

According to the CSO, house prices increased by 23% between November 2021 and the end of 2024. Prices have continued to go up this year, so the increase is way more than 23%. We are aware that the average house price broke the €600,000 mark in this city recently, which is just crazy. I recall standing here talking about house prices reaching various figures but this is just unbelievable. It never stops under this Government. Prices just keep going up and up. One always asks when the penny will drop or when the Government will say it has got it wrong because prices, rents, homelessness rates, including the child homelessness rate, and the number of young people leaving the country keep going up. Some 100,000 people born in this country are now living in Australia alone.

Daft.ie has reported that we are on course this year for the highest increase in ten years. The listed price in the second quarter of the year was 12.3% higher than that of last year. With all this information, the Government has decided to increase the charging bands by 20%. Daft.ie is telling us we will hit the highest increase in ten years in 2025. We already have seen an increase of 23%, and that was up to the end of last year. It is still going up this year. The Government has just increased the bands by 20%, knowing some people will go into a higher band and therefore pay more money.

On examining the decision county by county, its unfairness becomes even more obvious. The biggest changes to house prices are in Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo. If you lie a map indicating areas of deprivation in the State on top of a map showing the counties, you will find that the counties in the north west, the Border counties, are among the most deprived. Donegal has the highest levels of deprivation in the State, yet in that county house prices have increased by over 35%. Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon have all seen an increase of 33%, and that is before the continuation of the increase this year. The property tax is going up for everyone but it will go up by a band for many. They will see a substantial increase. Many in my county, Donegal, will see their property tax bill more than double. This will happen because a home in Donegal that was worth €190,000 in 2021 has increased in value by over 30% so far, which is still below the average for the county. The home would now be valued at €247,000, meaning its local property tax would go from €90 to €230. This is €140 extra, which is more than a doubling of the tax paid to date. I made this point to the Minister on Second Stage and, in fairness to him, he has not disputed that these are the facts of the matter.

We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and should not be passing legislation that will increase a tax on individuals. Regardless of whether it is by €5, €250 or €500, it does not matter; it should not be done.

6 o’clock

The Minister talked about how we cannot control inflation and so on, yet things like this, when the local property tax goes up a few quid, petrol and diesel go up a bit, the shopping goes up a bit because hauliers have to pay more to get it into the shops, gas bills go up because the Government decided to put carbon tax on gas, there is another increase on other items the Government has dealt with, and rents have gone up because the Government is refusing to ban rent increases, are the things that make up inflation. This is why people feel so much pressure. This is another example of it. We in Sinn Féin believe that the local property tax should not go ahead. It should be scrapped and phased out, which is what this amendment seeks to do.

See this speech in context