Councils will have to slash services to cut property tax, claim opposition

The bulk of councils will have to slash services in order to offer homeowners a cut in the property tax, opposition parties warned as they branded the new local authority funding system a two-tier mess.

Under the new regime only 10 councils will be able to introduce a 15% cut in the tax next year without harming services.

Councils are allowed to keep 80% of the tax for local services with the other 20% going into an “equalisation fund” which sees payers in places such as Dublin, Cork and Galway City subsidising other authorities such as Tipperary and Leitrim.