Brian Keegan: After a bad start, changes to the local property tax seek to make it fairer

That 100% of the LPT collected will stay in the local authority area is significant — in the nature of a local levy to pay for local service

Local Property Tax was intended to be comprehensive but got off to a bad start due to a 2013 drafting error in the law resulting in more properties being exempt than was originally the plan. File picture

Between the publication of the details of the National Economic Recovery Plan, the Local Property Tax (LPT) reforms, and the announcement of remarkably robust tax receipts for the year thus far, the first week of June has overshadowed many budget days in its significance.

In comparison with the recovery plan announcements, the LPT changes looked very minor in scale, yet commanded much of the attention as tax changes so often do.