The party insists that had it not intervened, the tax would have been deferred and omitted from next the Budget on Tuesday (Stock image)

Mechanism agreed to exclude farmers from zoned land tax

by · RTE.ie

A mechanism has been agreed that would exclude farmers from the Land Hoarding Tax, Government sources have confirmed.

The tax is set to be announced in the Budget next week.

The mechanism to achieve this is being described as complex and will be set out in detail on Tuesday.

Earlier, the Green Party said it reached an agreement whereby the Land Hoarding Tax will go ahead as planned next February.

The party insists that had it not intervened, the tax would have been deferred and omitted from next the Budget on Tuesday.

Wicklow TD Steven Matthews said: "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."

Yesterday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said the "intention" is to have the residential zoned land tax issue resolved in time for next week's Budget and for the tax to be introduced.

Speaking during the latest Dáil leaders' questions debate, Mr Martin said that discussions were taking place between Coalition leaders on the issue.

The residential-zoned land tax has been planned for a number of years as an attempt to target land hoarding by developers and other individuals during the housing crisis.

However, it was at the centre of an early budget row last month when Minister for Finance Jack Chambers said it may need to be deferred due to a potential unintended impact on "active" farmers.

The Economic and Social Research Institute said it is "crucially important" the implementation of the Government's residential zoned land tax proceeds "immediately".