Property Taxation Collection

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Questions (49)

Tom Fleming

Question:

49. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Finance the amount that has been collected to date in property tax in County Kerry; the way this compare to other counties; the amount expected to be collected in 2014; the implications this additional revenue will have for Kerry County Council's budget; if there will be additional funding available for the housing programme, roads programme, water services programme and so on; the implications this funding will have on future Government grant aid to Kerry County Council; if this additional funding will lead to a reduction in commercials rates in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38861/13]

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Written answers

Minister for Finance

I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the most up to date Local Property Tax (LPT) figures available for County Kerry and all other local authorities are published on the their website at: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/lpt/lpt-preliminary-data.pdf. More up-to-date data will be published in due course. The Commissioners further advise that it is not possible to state the precise amount of LPT which is expected to be collected for 2013 or 2014 for County Kerry. A numbers of factors could affect the outcome, including the continuation of the strong level of voluntary compliance that was achieved in 2013, the impact of Revenue’s national compliance programme to follow up with those liable persons who have failed to meet their LPT obligations for 2013, and the level of deferrals of LPT staying constant.

However, since the LPT charge for 2013 was for a half year, a reasonable estimate at this stage is that the amount of LPT expected from County Kerry in 2014 would be double the published figures for 2013. The remaining matters raised are properly for the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and I understand the Minister is responding to those matters in reply to another Parliamentary Question tabled today by Deputy Fleming.