Sir, – It is with some interest I read preliminary reports that the rent tax credit may be making its way to Budget 2019 in a few weeks. While this is likely just Government kite-flying at this stage, Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy would be advised to push for some version of this to make it to the final document at Cabinet level, as he desperately needs to deliver some relief for renters and generate some positive coverage in light of the past few weeks on the housing front.
This credit, which used to be worth up to €400 per year, was phased out over the years 2011-17 in a decision made by the Fianna Fáil administration. Subsequent governments have stuck to the timetable of phasing this out, so that my paltry €40 credit last year is now non-existent!
Yet this rarely registered as a topic in all the discussion on the housing crisis over the past couple of years. In fact the only coverage it has received in recent times has been your article from September 4th, 2017, entitled “Budget 2018: Where’s the tax relief for tenants?”
A year on, we are still waiting, while rents grow ever higher and the housing crisis has become even more acute. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD TALBOT,
Dublin 6.