Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 January 2013
15. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for Finance if he is satisfied that all registered charities are fully exempt from the local property tax in respect of properties used in carrying out their charitable activities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2013/13]
View answerSection 7 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 provides that exemption from the Local Property Tax will be available to a public body or to other bodies that have been granted a charitable tax exemption from Revenue, where the properties in question are used for people with special accommodation needs. Special accommodation needs refers to the provision of housing and support for people who have a particular need in addition to a housing need to enable them to live in the community. This includes the elderly, people with disabilities, people who have been homeless and victims of domestic violence. The Government is aware of the important role played by the Approved Housing Bodies in the provision of housing for those who face difficulty in living in our communities. To the extent that such groups are charities and are engaged in the provision of special needs housing, they should be eligible for the exemption for such housing which is provided for in the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012. I understand that most of the various bodies that comprise the voluntary and co-operative sector in respect of the provision of social housing would have been approved for charitable status by the Revenue Commissioners. Indeed, such bodies must have such charitable status before they can be approved by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government for funding to be used in the provision of social housing.
However, such groups also provide general needs housing in the same way as a local authority provides such housing. Depending on the level of local authority funding provided, some voluntary bodies may have flexibility to provide housing for those not eligible for local authority housing. To provide for a blanket exemption for such bodies would obviously be inequitable vis-à-vis local authorities, whose properties are subject to the Local Property Tax. For this reason the Government decided not to accept the recommendation of the inter-Departmental Group chaired by Dr Don Thornhill on the design of a property tax (the “Thornhill Group”) that all charitable bodies should be exempt but to restrict the exemption to those properties that are used to provide accommodation to persons who, for reasons of old age, physical or mental disability or other cause need special accommodation and support to enable them to live in the community.
Nonetheless, I acknowledge that government policy places significant emphasis on the approved housing body sector as an important part of social housing supply in the future. The Government will actively engage with Approved Housing Bodies to ensure that the Local Property Tax does not impact on their ability to deliver housing units.
