Rabbitte: Property Tax 'as fair as you can get'

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte has said the Property Tax is about as fair as you can get.

Letters are being sent to up to 1.8 million homes from today by the Revenue Commissioners detailing how the tax should be paid.

The letters will contain a valuation on the property which can be disputed by the homeowner.

Minister Rabbitte warned people against taking the advice of those advocating a boycott of the tax, and he had this to say when asked if the tax was fair.

Mr Rabbitte said: "I think you could raise that question about a lot of taxes.

"I think there are difficulties no matter which way you went about constructing it, but I think this is about as fair as you can get."

Revenue's new online guide to property values is being criticised for the methodology used in estimating the tax.

The guide, which is available on the website Revenue.ie, comes as Revenue begins distributing letters today about the Property Tax.

On the website, the property's value is based on the average price in the area and the age of the house.

However, Monaghan-based Solicitor Pierce O'Sullivan has said this method of calculating the value will be too vague for many homeowners, particularly in rural areas.

Mr O'Sullivan said: "Let's say you live in an estate in Dublin where a number of properties have been sold in the last six months of a similar type, then you can say there is something specific to latch on to in order to get a value for your property.

"If you live out in rural north Monaghan, it is hard to know how you are going to value your property against any other property in the area. Nothing has sold in the area in the last two or three years.

"There is a huge range of properties up and down the country, and it is going to be very difficult to know how Revenue are going to be specific."