Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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121. To ask the Minister for Finance if consideration was given to home owners who already paid stamp duty on purchasing their houses when the current local property tax, LPT, provisions were being established; if he will consider introducing a tax credit for home owners in these circumstances who are paying LPT in the interests of equality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38786/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I have no plans to introduce a measure along the lines suggested by the Deputy. The Deputy will appreciate that tax reliefs and exemptions have costs which have to be paid for and their introduction must be considered only where there is a clear economic and social policy need to be addressed.

The report of the 2012 Thornhill group, on which the design of the local property tax (LPT) was based, proposed a tax system that would contain limited exemptions and reliefs. The report cautioned that reliefs create costs which have to be paid for, either by taxpayers who do not benefit from the relief or by reductions in public expenditure. The report specifically recommended against providing reliefs for those who had paid stamp duty. The reasons given were that such relief would not be targeted on need; that the tax structure was known to house purchasers at the time of purchase; that the selling price of the property may have been affected by the stamp duty paid and that the stamp duty revenues would have been spent on the provision of public services.

While some taxpayers had a significant Stamp Duty liability, they may have been able to claim mortgage interest relief on interest of up to €20,000 per annum. Individuals who took out qualifying mortgages from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2012 can continue to claim mortgage interest relief until end 2017.  This relief ceased at end 2012, and no new mortgages taken out from 1 January 2013 have qualified for the relief.  The Deputy will also be aware that there is a commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government, which I confirmed in my Budget 2017 speech, to retain mortgage interest relief beyond the current end date on a tapered basis. As legislation currently provides for the relief to continue to end-December 2017, the details of the extension will be set out in Budget 2018.

A system of deferral arrangements is available where there is an inability to pay LPT and certain specified conditions are met, whereby a person may opt to defer, or partially defer, payment of the tax. Where a person qualifies for a full deferral then 100% of the liability can be deferred. Where a person qualifies for partial deferral then 50% of the liability can be deferred and the balance of 50% of the tax must be paid.