Elected members agree to cut Local Property Tax by 15%

Councillors in South Dublin County Council voted on Monday to reduce the rate of  Local Property Tax (LPT) by 15%. The changes will be made to bills issued from 1 November 2021

Elected members, who have the power to adjust the local rate by plus or minus 15% each year, voted 28 – 6 with 2 abstentions at the July Council meeting to make the decision to adjust the rate by the full 15% rate. The decision to reduce the basic rate of LPT will be funded through the discretionary element of the LPT allocation and will reduce that element of funding from €6,393,412 to €1,598,353.

The Council’s LPT allocation for 2022 is €25,573,647 representing 80% of the estimated LPT income of €31,967,059 that it is anticipated will be collected in the South Dublin County administrative area in 2022. The remaining 20% is paid into an equalisation fund to assist other local authorities.

The Local Property Tax (LPT) became effective from 1 July 2013 and is an annual self-assessed tax that is applied to the market value of residential properties. Changes proposed by the Minister for Finance under the Finance (Local Property Tax)(Amendment) Bill 2021 will require properties to be revalued on the 1st November 2021 The charge is administered by the Revenue Commissioners and the proceeds are accounted for as exchequer funding in the national Budget.  An amount equivalent to annual LPT receipts is assigned to the Local Government Fund by the Minister for Finance and distributed to local authorities by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.