Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In respect of the provision being changed by the Minister of State, he describes it as streamlining the process - a valuation would be submitted and would not be substituted by the person valuing the premises but by the office itself. The Minister of State is taking a further step away from the reforms announced by the Government two years ago. We welcomed these reforms and really only queried the geographical extent of them around the country.

I mean no disrespect to the Valuation Office but it seems to be dictating the pace here when it should be the taxpayers and ratepayers who dictate the pace on this. This is making the whole thing unnecessarily complex in what is an already complex system. We should be looking to make things easier for people and to make valuations real for people if that is the system we are going to have if the Government is not going to bring in a site valuation tax, which would be much simpler and more efficient. We are going to stay with a complicated and inefficient rates system where the ratepayers are forgotten and every burden that can be put on them is put on them. We had some hope that this burden was going to be lifted slightly by self-assessment.

Along with self-assessment, we would have been delighted with an ability to pay clause. A Minister who brought in self-assessment plus an ability to pay clause would be considered heroic by the small business community around this country. One can imagine the jobs announcements that would flow from that. The more I study this Bill and the more I listen to the people who have contacted me and the Minister of State describing the amendments he is making, the more I believe that we have a system that is over a century old and possibly older and is not fit for purpose and should be radically overhauled. A special commission should be set up to look at what we can do to raise money. Is it to be this system or will it be a site valuation tax or some other form of taxation? We should make it simpler and give taxpayers and employers a break. This Bill is doing nothing of the sort. These amendments are going backwards rather than forwards.