DUBLIN CITY COUNCILLORS are set to vote next week to stop applying a 15% discount on property tax for the first time in more than 10 years.

The change, for 2026, comes at the same time that the government is also applying increases to property tax to reflect the significant rise in house prices, although tax bands have been tweaked to moderate the impact.

It’s understood councillors’ decision will cost less than €65 per year for homeowners whose houses are worth up to €525,000, with exact costs on a sliding scale based on the value of the property.

For a €450,000 house, for example, the annual charge will be €428 in total.

For the owners of the capital’s most expensive houses, councillors’ decision will cost more, with homes worth between €1m and €2m likely to pay €150-460 more than they would have with the discount. A house worth €1.2m must pay €1,094 in property tax in total each year from 2026 onwards.

Property tax was introduced in 2013 at the behest of the Troika, with a view to broadening the tax base and funding local authorities without taxing employment. 

Dublin City Council management has long argued that the vast majority of Dublin homeowners would not be hit with substantial additional charges if councillors agreed to reduce the discount applied, while the city would benefit.

The council’s ruling group, comprising Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labour and the Green Party, agreed after last year’s local elections to apply the baseline rate with no discount this year for the first time. 

The decision, which will be taken at a meeting on 18 July, is expected to bring in more than €15m in extra funding for the city. It’s understood councillors are considering targeting the additional revenue at improving the council’s housing stock, as well as improvements to footpaths, although no final decisions have been taken yet.

Labour and the Green Party, which pushed for the discount to be scrapped, argue that property tax is progressive and will provide crucial funding for improving the city. 

Councillors Feljin Jose of the Green Party and Darragh Moriarty of Labour characterised property tax as the closest thing Ireland has to a wealth tax, given most of the country’s wealth is held in property.

“A lot of our [council] housing stock is very bad, and we need to maintain and repair and urgently increase the energy efficiency of those buildings,” said Jose of the Green Party.

Darragh Moriarty of Labour said: “In the vast majority of instances, these are very modest property taxes, by European comparisons. The 15% will be modest as well.”

He noted that the decision would mean an extra €60m could be invested in improving the city over the lifetime of the council.

Councillor Deirdre Heney of Fianna Fáil said she hoped additional funding would be allocated to footpath repairs and tree maintenance, issues that are raised with her frequently by residents, as well as to building more playgrounds.

Property tax for 2026 is owed on 1 November. The government changed property tax bands earlier this year to moderate the increase in the amount of tax payable as a result of increasing house prices.

A possible left-leaning ruling coalition on Dublin City council last year including Sinn Féin fell apart over the question of property tax. Sinn Féin wanted to continue to apply the 15% property tax discount.

Separately, the government said last week that this year it will allocate Dublin city, which takes in by far the most property tax of any council, to keep an additional €19m of the revenue it raises this year. The government wants this extra funding spent on implementing the recommendations of its Dublin city taskforce.