ONE OF the Taoiseach’s most loyal supporters in the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party has come out strongly against the introduction of a property tax.
Dublin South-Central TD Michael Mulcahy said: “Irish people have great pride in their homes and any tax on principal private residences has always been very unpopular and I believe it would be very unpopular today.
“Also, there are many people, unfortunately, in negative equity and it would be a bitter pill for them to have to swallow if they were also saddled with an extra tax on their house, having in many cases already paid stamp duty.
“I would imagine that there are many, many members of the parliamentary party that would be opposed to this and I am certainly one of them.”
The issue has come to the fore again with the publication of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report this week which reveals that the Department of Finance told visiting IMF representatives in May that a flat-rate property tax was under consideration.
When asked about the possibility of introducing a property tax in the budget, Minister for Enterprise Batt O’Keeffe told RTÉ’s News at One programme: “We’ll be looking at every aspect of the budget in order to achieve our target”.
Asked if he thought a property tax was a good idea, he said he would deal with the facts as they were presented to him by the Minister for Finance.
The Government would take a “unified” decision.
Mr Mulcahy commented: “The Taoiseach has said that nothing is ruled in or out for the budget and I respect that position.
“I fully support the Government’s €3 billion-deficit reduction programme but a tax on one’s home should be the very last policy option.
“I absolutely believe the Taoiseach will be listening very, very carefully to the views of the parliamentary party in the run-up to the budget,” he added.
A Department of Finance spokesman said: “All taxation proposals are fully considered in the context of December’s budget.”
Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South-East Chris Andrews tabled a motion opposing a property tax at last week’s meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan told the meeting that he was not ruling anything in or out, but afterwards Mr Andrews expressed the view that a property tax would not feature in the December budget.
