Committee recommends taxes on developers’ profits

The Oireachtas committee on the Constitution has recommended major changes to property ownership laws in an effort to tackle spiralling house prices in Ireland.

One such recommendation is the introduction of special levies and taxes to help the State recoup some of the massive profits made by developers when land is rezoned for housing.

The committee also proposed that local authorities be given the power to compulsorily purchase land from developers for a fraction of its market value and that developers be penalised for hoarding vast land banks.

The committee, which published its recommendations today, was asked last year to examine ways to tackle the spiralling cost of houses in Ireland.

In particular, it was asked to examine the constitutionality of proposed measures to allow local authorities to compulsorily purchase land from developers at 125% of its existing value.

The committee concluded that such a measure, which was also recommended by the 1973 Kenny Report, was not unconstitutional and should be introduced by the Government as a means of giving local authorities access to land for social and affordable housing, as well as strategic infrastructural projects.