RENUA Ireland leader John Leahy has called for immediate and total clarification by the government on its property tax proposals.
Mr Leahy said, ‘‘Home-owners, particularly in rural Ireland are facing a major property tax shock possibly even as soon as next year.
“Contrary to what most papers and commentators are saying this will be particularly serious for home-owners in rural Ireland.
“It is sometimes forgotten by our urban elites that property tax is paid by rural people too.
“The escalating rise in the cost of homes in rural Ireland means that rural home-owners in very modest circumstances could face massive increases of between two and three hundred Euros in LPT.
“This rise will make short work of Finance Minister Paschal Donohoes ‘fiver a week’ tax reductions.”
Mr Leahy also tackled claims by Senator Michael Mc Dowell that Dublin was subsidizing the owners of ‘‘six bed-roomed mansion on five acres and paddocks in Laois and Offaly’’.
The RENUA Ireland leader said, ‘‘Mr McDowell should say hello to the real world some time soon.
“There are not too many millionaire mansion owners in Laois and Offaly.
“What I can tell him, though, is that there is a lot of struggling middle and lower income people, many of them originally from Dublin, who are in no position to subsidize wealthy Dublin 4 town-house owners.
“Unless this is definitively resolved LPT will turn into the next water charges if the current charge of €90 Euros is replaced by a new €315.000 Euro stealth tax on working people.’’
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