Green party leader Roderic O’Gorman has said that the Residential Zoned Land Tax will go ahead in the upcoming Budget.
The Minister for Children and Integration said that he had spoken to his Cabinet colleague Minister for Finance Jack Chambers about the matter, and that there will now be a “carve out” for farmers.
Minster O’Gorman said that work on that provision is ongoing.
The tax, which is intended to target people who are hoarding land, had provoked disagreement between the Green Party and its coalition partners.
Last week, Minister Chambers had expressed concern that active farmers could be affected.
Both he and Taoiseach Simon Harris had indicated that the tax was set to be deferred.
The led to a public row, with a number of Green Party TDs objecting to the deferral, claiming that it would be like “hiding food in the famine” amid the housing crisis.
One Green TD, Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure Ossian Smyth responded to Minister Chamber’s remarks by insisting that the deferral was “not going to happen”.
Speaking at a media event at Government Buildings today, Minister O’Gorman said that he had held “a good discussion” with Minister Chambers about what had transpired.
He said that he had raised the issue at a coalition leaders meeting when he became Green Party leader at the start of July, as his party wanted “to seek clarity” on the tax.
Minister O’Gorman said that the coalition parties are agreed that “the purpose of the tax was never to hit farmers”, and he is “confident we will see this implemented in this year’s Budget”.
Article Source – Zoned Land Tax to go ahead in Budget, O’Gorman says – RTE