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A ROW OVER the potential deferral of a tax on undeveloped land could be put to bed as leader of the Green Party Roderic O’Gorman believes all three Government parties can come to an agreement before the Budget.
Speaking in Dublin today, O’Gorman made his first public remarks about a row that between the three Government parties last week after reports that a tax on undeveloped land would possibly be excluded in the Budget.
The Greens came out strong last week, with many claiming they had been “blindsided” by the reports and called for the tax to be included in this year’s Budget.
Residential Zoned Land Tax is targeted at unused land, which has been zoned or classified as a site for housing. The tax would include mixed-land sites, where other services may also be built on the site, and the rate is set at 3% of the land’s market value.
The rate, which O’Gorman today acknowledged was significantly high, is aimed to make it so those who are seen to be ‘hoarding’ land pay a fee on the unused land, develop housing on the site or sell it on to someone who will develop the land.
It was set to kick in in February, with bills coming due in May 2025. Farmers believe, however, it that the fee unfairly targets them as some of their land may go unused for particular portions of the year.
Last week, Finance Minister Jack Chambers was seeking to defer the introduction of the tax for another year, according to reports. Taoiseach Simon Harris defended the choice, claiming that it was unfair and “offensive” to label farmers as ‘land hoarders’.
But, speaking on the row for the first time today, Minister for Integration O’Gorman said that he expects that the land tax will indeed be included in the Budget in October and that concessions will be made for farmers.
“Penalizing farmers, who are working their land and who plan to continue to do so, is not what we’re trying to do here,” he told reporters today. “So a carve out that avoids that – it’s not a climb down – is something that we all welcome, across all three parties.”
The minister added that he spoke to Chambers about the issue last weekend and added that work is “underway” in the Department of Finance, along with the Attorney General, to figure out a way that an exclusionary clause can be created for farmers.
O’Gorman said he was “confident” that the Department of Finance would deliver a tax regime that excludes farmers but still “attacks” the issue of land hoarding to ensure that zoned and serviced land for housing is actually used.
“The scale of the housing crisis is too great for us just to allow that land stay idle,” he added. O’Gorman did not deny that the party was “blindsided” by the reports, but said that he has since engaged with Minister Jack Chambers on the issue.
Simon Harris, speaking at the same event, said that he welcomed the fact that the Department were working on proposals to get the land tax regime over the line.
“It’s important to remember that all three parties in our cabinet collectively decided that this was a good measure, and it is in the housing for all strategy Minister O’Gorman rightly refers to,” the Taoiseach added.
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It’s easy to be cynical. Starmer seems to be a sensible guy who wants to get things back on track, and Harris is someone who is easy to work with.
There has been too much politics of personality over the past decade and it has brought nothing but grief. Give me boring quiet competence any day.
Changing Torries for Labour is barely above changing FG for FF and expecting a difference. Best of luck with that.
Starmer is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. That been said, thank god the tories have been given a good hiding.
Well good thing you’re not English because the UK public have trusted the Soft-Socialists with an ENTIRE majority!!!
@9QRixo8H: I’m no fan of the Tories, but your statement is wildly exegarated in relation to Labour.
They increased their total percentage of votes up to 23.8% – up 1.5% from their disastrous 2019 performance.
Any other country in Europe would be looking at a coalition government after a similar result, instead of the all or nothing FPTP UK system.
@Thomas Sheridan: FACTS are wild exaggerations???? I stated that they received an entire majority. Did they not? The uk know their FPTP system VERY well, and chose to give them an ENTIRE majority. Am I incorrect? Am I?
@9QRixo8H: first to correct a typo, it should read 33.8%.
But I’m not sure what you mean by an entire majority, as opposed to a majority, given that just 1/3% of the voters opted for them.
@Thomas Sheridan: D. Peadar – synonymous with wildly exaggerated.
@Anthony Curran: What do you base that on? Nothing that I can see. Especially coming off the back of the Tory nut show of the last number of years.
@9QRixo8H: I can tell you one thing. They will be many times better than what went before them. No comparison.
@Anthony Curran: How you make that out when everything says otherwise.
He is a pragmatist, not an idealist.
He showed that is his law career and as a TD.
Even in this election, there were no wild promises, just plans and ideals.
All based on what they find when they get into government.
An adult politician not looking for the headlines.
A nice change!
@9QRixo8H: what???
Harris has his thumb sticking out because he’s putting his thumb in every pie right now :-)
For me the only decent leader of Labor and person on the island of GB was Jeremy Corbyn, it was sad to see how he was treated by what followed him, sadly it’s difficult for me to have any respect for anything after that .
@patrick Morris: Id trust Corbyn as a neighbour to feed the cat (just about). Less sure he could run a country
@patrick Morris: He is the extreme left equivalent of the extreme right in the likes of Liz Truss that they have just kicked to the kerb. Ideologues not living in the real world.
@patrick Morris: Corbyn was an idealist who had great visions but no plans. Labour was turning into Animal Farm and were unelectable. That was proven when they not only failed against the Tories but lost their red wall.
He is a brilliant MP for his constituency but as a party leader, a failure.
As leader you pull the party together not pull it apart, like Liz Truss did to the Tories.
Starmer is not as left wing as Corbyn and that is what is needed in the UK. The Corbynites were caught out with some wild comments including the ones about the Irish never having suffer racism in the UK. Like I sai Animal Farm like.
The UK has swung to the right with Regform an a chunk of the Tories,
A left if center Labour is exactly what was needed. To guide the UK back to a better place.
Wild swings to the life or right usually destabilise a country badly as seen by the Truss fiasco and Brexit.
As long as they pay the money to get back into the EU and adopt the euro they will be grand
@and the hit’s just keep coming:
Keep dreaming
The Blue shirts will have us back in the Union soon…
@Daragh McCauley: That will never happen and the ones that would have all all dying off. The good news is that their right wing politics differ from the UKs and that is good of us.
All talk no action
why arent comments allowed on leona Maguire becoming a champ
It’s great to see the British people have finally woken up to the Folly of Brexshit.
They were sold a pup by the Tories and the DUP up North. The only think Oven ready was the Burning of their Economy and futures. Leaving the biggest trading block on the planet on the hope of doing non existent trade agreements globally has been disastrous and nonsense.
They borrowed heavily based on this. Driving their national debt from £700billion when David Cameron called the Referendum to a new unmanageable £2.6 Trillion and rising.
Well done Borris and Farage. Great job
Question is who called who??
I wish him well
Peas in a pod
Is it just me, or does Starman talk like a Dalek?
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