I am very conscious of the concerns of homeowners over increasing property prices and the effects this will have on their Local Property Tax (LPT) liabilities, particularly in urban areas. For this reason I asked Dr Don Thornhill to review the operation of the LPT and, in particular, any impacts on LPT liabilites due to recent property price developments.
In my Budget 2016 statement, I announced that I would propose to Government the postponement of the revaluation date for the LPT from 2016 to 2019. This is one of the recommendations in the Review of the Local Property Tax submitted to me by Dr. Don Thornhill, which has been published on the Department of Finance website. The postponement of the revaluation date means that home owners will not be faced with significant increases in their LPT in 2017 as a result of increased property values and it gives sufficient time for the other recommendations in Dr Thornhill's report to be considered in full. I propose to bring legislation to give effect to the postponement before the Oireachtas shortly. This legislation will also give effect to two of the recommendations in the review report in relation to changed approaches to the implementation of the pyrite exemption from LPT, and reliefs from LPT in respect of properties occupied by persons with disabilities, both of which are being implemented on an administrative basis by the Revenue Commissioners at my request.
Issues relating to the implementation of other recommendations in the Report will be a matter for consideration by the next Government.