Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 17 deals with the negative equity with which many people are dealing. As my colleague, Senator Reilly, pointed out, this is a tax on debt. People who are in debt will not get any relief. When rates were abolished in 1977, it was a retrograde step for local financing but it is neither fair nor equitable to introduce a property tax in the absence of relief for the many people who are in negative equity with large mortgages. The Revenue Commissioners point out that a tax has to be fair and equitable if it is to be applied. This is why I propose amendment No. 17 to deal with negative equity.