Hogan: Home tax will help to cut rates

The property tax should help local authorities reduce commercial rates for struggling business, according to the environment minister.

As the property tax system “beds down”, and once the rates structure is harmonised under his local government reform plans unveiled last week, local authorities will be in a position to reduce the burden on rate-payers, said Phil Hogan.

The minister has also called for concrete progress on the long-awaited boundary extension for Cork City — the first since the mid-1960s — before the end of 2014.