Majority of Dubliners to see property tax rise next year

RTÉ News​

3 days ago

The majority of Dubliners will see their property tax rise next year as Dublin City Councillors are set to become the latest local authority in the capital to vote to increase the tax.
If the vote passes as expected this evening, householders in three of Dublin's four locals authority areas will see their property tax increase from next year, alongside a separate revaluation of the Local Property Tax bands for all households across the country which will be applied from November.
Dublin City Council said the increase will provide almost €16.5m in additional funding for the city, with almost a third going toward maintaining the city's housing stock.
But opponents said they believe the property tax hike is unfair on householders and that the extra funding could be raised by collecting unpaid vacant and derelict site levies and development contributions.
Since the introduction of the Local Property Tax more than a decade ago, councillors have had the ability to increase or decrease the base rate of the tax by 15%.
Dublin City Council has always voted to apply the full 15% discount below the the base rate.
However as part of their agreement to form a coalition last year, councillors from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and Labour Party agreed to vote to increase the tax by 15%, returning it to the base rate from 2026 to 2029.
In recent weeks two other Dublin local authorities also voted to increase their property taxes while the other maintained its rate.
Fingal County Council voted to reduce the discount they apply to the base rate from 7.5% to 5%, generating an additional €1m for services.
South Dublin County Council also voted to reduce its discount from 7.5% to 5%, generating €3m in additional funding.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council voted to continue to apply the full 15% discount on the local property tax.
In a circular to councillors ahead of tonight's meeting, Dublin City Council's Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare urged them to no longer apply the 15% discount on property tax for householders in the city, saying that removing the discount would give the council €16.4m in additional funding.
The Government has already announced that properties are to be revalued for Local Property Tax on 1 November this year.
However, he said that as 75% of properties in the city council are currently in band 4 or under, based on current valuations, most homeowners in the capital would see a weekly increase of between 36 cent and €1.61 if the discount on property tax is discontinued.
He said that everyone wants Dublin city to become more vibrant and enjoyable and that the injection of extra funding for the capital would provide services that will "benefit and lift all".
He outlined that €5.4m would be allocated to housing maintenance, €3m would go on roads and footpaths and another €3m would be used for urban regeneration and upgrading vacant properties.
Mr Shakespeare said: "Dublin City Council seeks to maintain and develop services in an environment with rising service provision costs and the need to invest in key infrastructure projects.
"It is unreasonable that an expectation be held that there be no increase to Dublin City Council's income base.
"Securing resources of €16.4m to find services to support communities and businesses in 2026 and apply this funding of additional services for a period of four years up to and including 2029 is a valuable opportunity that I urge elected members to take."
He said the current estimated take for property tax in Dublin City in 2026 is €109.4m up, €8.5m on 2025.
The increase to the base rate was one of the main conditions for Labour and the Greens to enter a coalition on Dublin City Council last year, but they agreed to postpone the rise until 2026 because councillors in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were reported to be reluctant to agree to supporting it until after the general election had taken place.
The group have 31 of the 63 seats on Dublin City Council and hope to receive support from a number of councillors outside the coalition, including representatives of the Social Democrats who last year supported a vote to return the tax to the base rate.
'If we want to invest, we need to raise revenue' - Labour councillor
Labour's group leader on Dublin City Council Darragh Moriarty said his party pushed for the increase to improve the city, particularly its social housing stock.
He said: "We're asking people to pay a little bit more, to put more into our city. If we want to invest in a city, we need to raise revenue.
"This is the one revenue raising tool we have and every year for the last decade we voted to reduce it.
"People who live in €2m mansions get an €800 tax cut every single year from Dublin City Council. We want to turn it around and e want to put that €800 into people's homes.
"€5.4m of this increase in local property tax is going to go directly towards increasing the budget for housing maintenance.
"That's replacing single glaze windows, new doors, mechanical ventilation and insulation boards.
"That's really, really important for us. It's a hard fought win. Additionally, we're going to be investing in roads resurfacing, footpath repairs and vacancy and dereliction."
'This tax hits workers and pensioners who are already stetched' - PBP-Solidarity councillor
People Before Profit-Solidarity said they will vote against the increase saying they believe the focus should be on collecting unpaid vacant and derelict site levies and development contributions.
The party's group leader on the council Conor Reddy said: "If we could, we would abolish the Local Property Tax altogether.
"It's primarily a tax on family homes, not real wealth. House prices are rising at an unprecedented pace, but people's wages aren't.
"This tax hits workers and pensioners who are already stretched.
"A truly progressive property tax would exempt people's homes and instead focus on those holding and hoarding wealth in investment properties and elsewhere.
"Meanwhile, tens of millions in vacant and derelict site levies go uncollected by DCC and other councils around Ireland and private developers still owe councils, including DCC massive sums in unpaid development contributions.
"Instead of punishing ordinary households, we should be taxing multi-property landlords, short-term lets, hotel chains, and big corporations.
"We need more State support for local authorities - more funding for tenant in situ acquisitions to keep people out of homelessness, for refurbishment of voids, delivery of local services and most crucially, delivery of public and affordable housing on council owned lands.
"The additional yield from this increase will not make the difference on any of these crucial fronts, but it will hurt homeowners who are already struggling to make ends meet."
Dubliners want 'cleaner city, safer streets, and real action on vacancy' - Lord Mayor
However, newly-elected Lord Mayor of Dublin Councillor Ray McAdam of Fine Gael said the higher property taxes will allow councillors to deal with many of the issues raised in last year's local elections and setting the rate for four years will also provide certainty about the rate of property tax they will pay.
He said: "We heard directly from Dubliners at last year's local elections. They want a cleaner city, they want safer streets, they want better roads, better footpaths and they want improved housing conditions and they want real action vacancy and dereliction.
"This is going to unlock €16.4bn of expenditure expense in terms of improving our city, roads, improving footpaths, enhancing accessibility toward our city, but also genuinely taking real action to tackle the scourge of vacancy and dereliction in our city and improving the conditions upon which many Dubliners live.
"In addition to that, we're also taking steps to contribute towards the borrowing costs associated with key infrastructure projects like the redevelopment of Dalymount Park, the new City Library in Parnell Square, as well as the new Fruit and Veg market in Smithfield."