A newsagent in Wexford has been busy making sure that other people in the town pay more rates.
Mr Oliver Canty, who runs a shop in South Main Street, began a personal campaign recently for more equitable commercial rates, with strikingly successful results.
Using a little-known mechanism which allows an individual to have the rateable valuation of any business reassessed, Mr Canty referred the details of five businesses in the town to the Valuation Office in Dublin for a revised assessment.
Not surprisingly, those who have been on the receiving end of his campaign are less enthusiastic. "I don't know why he's doing it," said Mr Derek Joyce of Joyce's Hardware, whose rates have increased from £1,301 to £4,918 as a result of Mr Canty's action. "I don't know the man. It's very strange that you can appeal somebody else's rates."
Mr Joyce has initiated his own appeal against the Valuation Office's decision.
Two results are outstanding, but the other three businesses have had their rateable valuations dramatically increased. One company's annual rates have risen from £468 to £4,500 as a result of Mr Canty's actions, which to date have cost him £500 as each referral to the Valuation Office costs £100.
Mr Canty, who has been examining the corporation's rate books every year since 1992, claims anomalies are widespread. "You could have two businesses beside each other, with the guy that's half the size paying four times as much as the other guy."
The three revisions initiated by Mr Canty to date will bring an extra £9,000 a year to the corporation's coffers, and he claims there is a potential increased income of £300,000 if a full re assessment is carried out of the town's 800 businesses.
Mr Canty's claims are disputed, however, by the town clerk, Mr Don Curtin. He says that even if there was widespread upgrading of businesses' rateable valuations, it would not necessarily result in increased income for the town.
That's because of the manner in which local authorities reach agreement on the level of commercial rates to be applied each year.
First, the corporation decides on its level of expenditure. The next step is to look at its income from sources other than rates, including Government grants.
It is only then, when it is apparent how much needs to be raised by way of rates, that the rate for the year is struck.
In other words, increasing rateable valuations does not result in more money for the town, as the calculation is made in reverse. The corporation calculates what it needs, and strikes a rate accordingly.
But hasn't Mr Canty established that there are major discrepancies within the system in Wexford, with some businesses paying too much and other far too little?
Mr Curtin accepts there are anomalies, but says they merely reflect the position everywhere in the State.
This is why, he adds, the Government has set about reforming the entire valuation system. A Valuation Bill is currently being drafted and will replace existing legislation which dates from the middle of the last century. Among the provisions planned is a national valuation of all property in Ireland, the first since the 1850s.
Mr Curtin also pointed out that in the past four years Wexford Corporation has referred 214 of the town's 820 businesses to the Valuation Office for revised assessment, which is substantially more than the national average.
Mr Canty, however, says he has proved his point about inequities in the system and, far from making himself unpopular as a result, people have been "crossing the street to shake my hand".
