No monies from State ‘windfall tax’

The State has received no monies to date from a “windfall tax” aimed at generating revenues from land rezonings across the country.

As part of the legislation that established Nama in 2009, the Green Party insisted on a provision for the State to receive an 80% windfall tax from the sale of lands that had been subject to rezonings after Oct 2009. The provision came as a result of late amendments to the act.

However, in a recent Dáil reply to Fine Gael’s John Deasy, the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan sid: “There is no record of profits of gains subject to the windfall tax having been declared on tax returns to date.”

He said: “This reflects the small number of ‘relevant planning decisions’ since the windfall tax was introduced, as well as the fact that landowners may not make a gain on a disposal of development land in the current market.

“The windfall rate is kept under review and any changes will be determined in the context of the budget and Finance Bill.”

Mr Noonan explained: “The windfall tax rate of 80% applies to the portion of the profit or gain on a disposal of land which is attributable to a ‘relevant planning decision’...

“The purpose of the windfall tax was to apply a higher rate of tax to the profits or gains from land disposals where those profits or gains are attributable to a decision by a planning authority rather than to any value attributable to the work of the landowner,” he said.

A spokesman for the Construction Industry Federation said: “The 80% tax could never succeed in raising the revenues as it acted as a disincentive to those looking for an improved zoning. This tax will have to be looked at sooner rather than later.”