Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 11, before section 4, to insert the following new section:
"4.? A residential property shall not, for the purposes of this Act be regarded as a relevant property where the property is under the ownership of a Local Authority for the purpose of the provision of social housing.".

These amendments seek to exclude local authority and voluntary housing from this tax. The expert group commissioned by the Minister's colleague, Deputy Phil Hogan, argued that this category of housing should not be liable for property tax. Why is the Minister going against that argument and applying the property tax to local authority housing? This will have one of two consequences. It will either result in the local authority having to pick up the tab, thus reducing spending on local services, or the local council will end up passing it on to tenants. In the first scenario the local community will lose out and in the second, people who do not own their own homes - council tenants - will end up paying the tax. This makes no sense. Either the Government should tax people because they own homes or it should not.

Given the precarious state of local government funding, it is highly unlikely councils will be able to cover the significant cost of this tax, especially large urban councils with a large number of council tenants on their books. People who do not own the properties in which they live will end up having to pay. There is some kind of skewed logic involved. No other country in the EU or OECD area has such a property tax charge, where people who do not own the property in which they live are, effectively, made pay for it.

This argument extends also to housing associations, the not-for-profit bodies that provide social housing to people in our communities with the greatest level of need. Whether this tax is paid by the housing association or the tenants, it will cause significant hardship for these people. Many of these people are homeless or have mental health issues. If the Minister imposes this tax on housing associations, these groups will reduce their spending in other areas, including support services and housing maintenance. If the tax is applied to the tenants of the housing associations, this will cause financial hardship, increase emotional distress and affect their general overall well-being. I see no credible argument for the inclusion of these two categories in the Bill and I urge the Minister to support or take these amendments on board.