Residential zoned tax to go ahead as planned in February, as pre-Budget deal struck

A deal has been struck to resolve a key pre-Budget row between the coalition partners over land hoarding tax.
The issue blew up over the summer when it suggestions arose that Fianna Fáil wanted to delay the introduction of the long-planned tax amid fears that it would catch farmers out. This led to a Green Party backlash which in turn triggered weeks of talks to resolve the issue.
It is understood that an agreement has been struck has whereby the tax will go ahead as planned next February.
[ Residential zoned land tax: Why has the issue ballooned into a major political row?Opens in new window ]
It is expected that farmers who are farming land will be able to be exempted from it, as well as some small industrial holdings and businesses.
A Green Party source said: “From our point of view, if we hadn’t intervened, the tax would have been deferred and speculators would have been free to sit on their landbanks and watch their value increase rather than actually building homes.”
The party source added that the Greens were “really pleased that a solution has been found so that farmers who wish to continue farming into the future can avoid this tax – this was always a Green Party priority.”
Green Party TD and housing committee chair Steven Matthews said:
[ Farmers should not be ‘penalised’ by residential zoned land tax, Taoiseach saysOpens in new window ]
“When it first emerged that the tax could be deferred, I said that hoarding land during a housing crisis was like hiding food in a famine and I stand over that. It would be appalling if the State was to stand by and allow speculators to just sit on their land banks in order to watch their value grow even bigger. We need to get houses built as quickly as possible. The Green Party was insistent that this land hoarding tax had to go ahead next February and I’m really glad that we’ve found a way of doing that while granting farmers who have no intention of developing their land an opportunity to avoid paying the tax.”