Councillors say house tax will not offset funding cut – The Irish Times
Dermot got some more coverage in today’s Irish Times on the subject of Minister Gormley‘s new second house property tax.
councillors said the money would not offset the 5 per cent reduction in local government funding from the exchequer, and that local authorities were being used as tax collectors for the Government.
“This is a con job. Local authorities are being used as the collector generals for the Government,” said Dublin city councillor Dermot Lacey (Labour).
Although the vast majority of the State’s rental properties are located in Dublin, the city will not get to keep the proportion of the charge it generates but will have to collect it for distribution through a central fund.
“I’m actually really disappointed with this. I favour such taxes, but I favour local government raising money and spending money. This is going to cost us as a city money to administer; we are going to be tax collectors for the Government who might in their goodness give us some proportion of it back,” Mr Lacey said.
More here.
