Local Property tax is cut by maximum 15 per cent
By Sean Heffernan
A cut of 15% in the Local Property Tax in South Dublin was agreed upon by councillors at the recent monthly council meeting.
Each council has to annually set the LPT rate for it’s area, and once again South Dublin County Council has agreed to cut it by the maximum amount allowed.
In 2018 SDCC retained €25M of the LPT it collected in it’s area, and it expects the 2019 figure to be broadly the same if the 15% reduction was agreed, but SDCC reminded councillors that the council would bring in over €30M if no reduction was applied.
There is a major difference as to the allocation from the LPT pot that each council will receive, with SDCC only receiving €13.83 per capita, while at the other end of the scale, Leitrim County Council received €279.50 per capita.
This has led to calls from a number of councillors in Dublin for changes to be made in how the monies are allocated.
Sinn Fein Cllr Cathal King described it as an unfair tax and made it clear his party would be voting to cut it by the maximum 15%, as did the Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Renua and Solidarity-PBP Public Representatives in the chamber.
Social Democrat Cllr Dermot Looney asked for councillors to agree to a 10% cut with a pledge to allocate the 5% difference, he estimated to be €1.5M, towards the provision of homeless services in the county.
Independent Councillor Paul Gogarty said he disagreed with the tax, but saw how important the revenue gained from it was to the council adding, “every year people are giving out as to why the tree budget is three years behind schedule”, and in order to fund things such as this opined “we should leave it as it is”.
His fellow Independent Cllr Guss O’ Connell seconded his comments, and he along with the Labour Party also voted against any rate cut, but after a roll call vote, a 15% cut was agreed.
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