FF calls for immediate publication of Thornhill report on property taxes

Fianna Fáil Environment Spokesperson Barry Cowen has called on the Government to immediately publish the Thornhill report on property taxes.

It follows revelations that the Government has agreed a deal with the troika behind closed doors that will see taxes levied on the value of homes throughout the country, before even considering the report which was supposed to be the basis of the property tax strategy.

Deputy Cowen commented, “The Environment Minister Phil Hogan has been sitting on an expert report on property taxes which we were promised would be made public.  However it now appears that once again instead of being upfront with householders, the Government has gone ahead and agreed a new form of property tax to be introduced in December’s budget.

“Has Minister Hogan learned nothing from the household charge fiasco?  The Government’s failure to communicate properly with public and to introduce a fair system based on people’s ability to pay resulted in unnecessary chaos.  The fact that that they would go ahead and make such an agreement now, without having the decency to publish the expert advice they themselves commissioned, is further evidence of how disconnected they have become in a short period of time.

“I have real concerns about the inequalities associated with a property tax based on value, particularly at a time when it is extremely difficult to provide a real assessment of property values. On the face of it, this system would be extremely unfair to homeowners in urban areas and fails to take into account the extent of the mortgage crisis which is growing day by day.  The latest CSO figures published this week show that 10.9% of all private residential mortgages are in arrears of more than 90 days. Does the government expect a Dublin homeowner in serious mortgage difficulty to pay hundreds of euro a year in property taxes?

“The fairest thing that the Government could do at this time is publish the Thornhill report as promised.  Homeowners deserve some honesty from a coalition that campaigned on a pillar of openness, transparency and reform.”