I very much welcome this Bill as I feel that it is very necessary. The Title of the Bill is an Act to amend and extend the Local Government (Temporary Reduction of Valuation) Acts, and it is not only welcome but necessary. For the past few months many farmers and others have been rather anxious as to whether this legislation was to be continued.
The fact that this Bill is now introduced, and the fact that it is necessary, are indications that our entire rating system should get a new look and should certainly be overhauled. Grants for building, extending or improving living accommodation, farm buildings, or factories, are not achieving the results they achieved when they were first introduced. They were not increased and, therefore, they have not kept pace with costs of production.
People in general should be encouraged to improve their living accommodation, to extend their business premises, and to improve their conditions in general. For that reason the Bill is very welcome. It is not a general review of our rating system which is very old and very iniquitous. The big drawback in our rating system is that it takes no account of the ability of the ratepayers to meet the ever increasing bill for rates. The system is completely outmoded but it did serve a very useful purpose down through the years. The fact that it is a difficult problem should not deter us from tackling it and endeavouring to find a solution which would be fair and just to all.
There are so many new ways of gathering taxes that surely it is within the competence of the Government and the Civil Service to devise a more just scheme. There are very many instances throughout the country of economic holdings with small dwellings and little or no outoffices paying less rates than uneconomic holdings with big houses or dwellings and a considerable number of outoffices. This is something that should be gone into.
The present rating system is completely inflexible. Cottiers pay their rates on the same valuation when their families are small and being reared as when there are five or six of the family earning wages and bringing wage packets into the cottage every week. In the same way when the family have all gone from the home and the parents are living on a small pension the bill for rates is still there. The time must come when the present inflexible system will be changed and then there will be a completely new look at this problem.
The same applies to urban dwellers in our cities and towns. It is extraordinary to find people not only in the cities but in our rural towns paying up to £50, £60, £70 and £80 a year in rates, and it is extremely difficult to effect a reduction in valuation. With the ever increasing ways that are being found to get alternative methods of taxation, surely someone could take a look at our rating system and devise a more just form of this means of local taxation.
The rating system is mainly responsible for the regrettable demolition of many of our big houses on estates and farms throughout the country. These are big mansions or Victorian houses which would cost perhaps £30,000, £40,000 or £50,000 to build today. I know they are of little use to the present occupier if his occupation is solely agriculture or farming, but most of these big houses are in a fair state of repair and they are being demolished solely because the people cannot afford any more to pay the rates on them. Therefore, they must go. Even though these residences or mansions were built in a period which we do not particularly like in our history, if they are in good repair people should be encouraged to keep them because surely they could be put to better use than just destroying them.
The people who find themselves in possession of these big houses are also the victims when it comes to the bimensal charges fixed by the ESB. The ESB levy their charges on the floor area and do not take into account either the cost of connecting the current or how much, if any, will be used.
The main objection I have, in common with most people, is that the rate collector does not care two hoots where the ratepayers find the money so long as he gets it. Perhaps there has been a slight improvement over the past few years when in most counties the rate collectors were changed from poundage to salaries. Of course, this has been most beneficial to the rate collectors but in most cases they have grown a little more sympathetic. It is to the credit of the Irish people in general that they are very honourable and in the vast majority of cases they pay the rates, especially when they have the money. It is good to know that our rate collection in most counties is over 90 per cent. That shows that the people will, if at all possible, endeavour to meet their commitments in this regard. I certainly would like to see a very definite effort being made to tackle this very vexed problem because we now find that the rates are increasing year in and year out and even though there Is this redemption on increases in the valuation the rates still present a very formidable bill.
This measure, as introduced in the Seanad tonight is, I think, a Bill that any Minister likes to introduce because it does not cost the Exchequer or the central authority anything because the valuations that are reduced or exempted are really spread over the rest of the ratepaying community as rates are struck on the effective valuations and, so, while some people are getting reductions in valuation the reductions they get are made up by them and the rest of the ratepaying community.
My Party's policy on rates announced last year was to completely derate all the farms which had a total valuation of £25 or under. We came to that conclusion because we believe, and we see, that the owners of uneconomic holdings are being forced to pay rates on their property and on their building without any regard for their ability to pay. That is in contrast to the workers or people living in the urban community who are subject to income tax. Lots of people find it distasteful to pay income tax but at least those paying income tax have an income from which to pay, but the ratepayers are not in the same position. They pay rates irrespective of whether they show a profit or a loss or whether they make any money throughout the year or not.
I am sure the Minister will not be impressed by any Senator who advocates a greater reduction in rates, but I feel that this is a problem that must be met sooner or later. The great fear in rural Ireland at the present time is that people who are just about able to make ends meet are endeavouring, at all costs, to keep their overheads down, and the only possible way people can do that is to keep an eye to their rates and their rate bills and if the cost of administering our counties increases by leaps and bounds each year this is indeed becoming a very tough problem.
I would urge on the Government to give very serious thought to this problem. I saw where the Minister said that if we were to abolish rates we would also abolish the local authorities but I could not agree with that point of view. I would only advocate that the rating system should be changed, inasmuch as it would be a little more flexible for people who could not pay rates, or for people who find themselves in the cycle of life, either starting off with high expenses or retired on fixed incomes or pensions. They should have some body or machinery to apply to to have their effective valuations reduced into line with their earnings.
I feel that if people knew that their rent or their rates or their income tax was going to be at a set percentage of their income there would be no objection to it. I cannot understand in a small country why we must have so many methods, so many means and so many different bodies collecting rates and taxes from us. I think that if we could devise a system of having only one body collecting both rates and taxes together it would be much more economic in the long run.
I feel that this is a very comprehensive problem and while the temporary measure before the House tonight is welcome, I am disappointed that it is only proposed as a stop-gap or temporary provision, and I would urge on the Minister and the Government to do all in their power to bring in wider legislation which will give to the people of Ireland, the people in both town and country, a more flexible system whereby those who are hard-pressed or down in their luck can appeal to somebody and we should not still be retaining the services of the sheriff who I feel has not left very happy memories for many an Irish family. I wish to welcome the Bill.
