FG faces revolt over property tax plan

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is facing a growing revolt within Fine Gael over the Coalition’s flagship property tax initiative.

Government TDs in Dublin are growing increasingly jittery over the impact the charge, set to be introduced in July, will have, with one senior Fine Gael figure branding it “unfair and unreasonable”.

The Government backlash began to intensify as Social Protection Minister Joan Burton outlined plans to take the tax at source from welfare payments.

After the mass boycott of the flat-rate €100 household tax, the Revenue Commissioners will take responsibility for the new property charge, which is set to be levied at between 0.18% and 0.25% of the value of a home.

Dublin South TD Olivia Mitchell went public with concerns shared by a number of Fine Gael colleagues as she strongly attacked the “disproportionate” way the tax would fall on urban dwellers.

“Most people accept, reluctantly, that there is a need for a property tax, but they bitterly resent the method that is used to calculate the tax,” said Ms Mitchell.

“There is a huge inequity in the way that the tax has been calculated. A householder in Dublin will pay up to six times more than for an identical house in another local authority. Nobody, no matter where they live in Ireland, can think that is fair.

“Every tax has to be both fair and reasonable, and I think for urban dwellers, particularly living in Dublin, it is not regarded as either fair or reasonable,” she told RTÉ.

Ms Mitchell acknowledged she had voted for the tax in the Dáil, but said it now needed to be thoroughly amended.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan concededthat Ms Mitchell was correctin stating that the bulk of revenue would come from the east coast and urban areas, but insisted that was normal, as it is with vehicle tax.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams pledged that his party would try to get the Dáil to repeal the tax before the summer.

Branding the charge a “family home tax”, Mr Adams insisted struggling households would not be able to bear the extra financial burden.

“This tax, the brainchild of Fianna Fáil, gives the State unprecedented powers to collect it,” he said.

“It will especially punish those on low and middle incomes, social welfare recipients, and the disabled.

“It doesn’t take into account ability to pay, people’s mortgages, the amount they paid in stamp duty, and negative equity.”

Mr Adams dismissed attempts by some opposition groups for householders to refuse to register for the property tax as a “gimmick”.

Ms Burton said that people in receipt of welfare payments can choose to have the tax deducted at source, which would enable the cost to be spread out for longer.

Revenue has also been given powers to deduct non-payments from welfare benefits.