Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 April 2013
782. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will detail the benefits an estate (details supplied) in Dublin 9 will derive from the implementation of the residential property tax. [16498/13]
View answer804. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the services persons living in an estate (details supplied) in County Meath will receive as a result of paying property tax in view of the fact that they already pay privately for their services. [16845/13]
View answer829. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider introducing a system where payers of the local property tax receive regular updates from their council on the way the revenue is spent with a breakdown across expenditure headings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17108/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 782, 804 and 829 together.
Under section 157 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012, commencing in 2014, the Minister for Finance will pay into the Local Government Fund an amount equivalent to the Local Property Tax paid into the Central Fund during that year. The Government has indicated an intention to move from 2014, to 80% retention of all Local Property Tax receipts within the local authority area where the Tax is raised. The remaining 20% of the Tax collected nationally will be re-distributed on an equalised basis to local authorities within the context of the annual allocations of General Purpose Grants.
I expect the Local Property Tax to have multiple benefits, including, a more sustainable and resilient system of funding for local authorities and therefore a sounder financial footing for the provision of essential local services; greater local scope for financial decision making concerning service provision - in particular, the inclusion of the local variation mechanism from 2015 will further increase the autonomy of local authorities; and, a strengthening of democracy at local level with a more active relationship between local authorities and local electorates. A stronger democratic relationship and clearer lines of accountability can only have a beneficial impact on service provision from the perspective of the service user.
The Local Property Tax is not intended to reflect the degree to which an individual household, or set of households, receive services. Rather, Local Property Tax funding will reinforce the link between decisions on service provision as a whole in a local authority and the funding of those services.
Society as a whole benefits from the services local authorities provide, even when such benefits accrue at a community level, such as from the positive contribution libraries make to society as a whole, or the benefit of having access to services a household may need in the future, such as fire and emergency.
I anticipate that local financial reporting will ensure taxpayers and their elected representatives are kept abreast of the uses to which Local Property Tax revenue is applied in any given local authority. I do not propose to impose a central mechanism for such reporting; a function of the Local Property Tax is to enhance local accountability, not to increase Central Government demands on local authorities.
