Vacant sites tax should be higher than 3%, Government will be told
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The Government should link a vacant sites tax to inflation, an Oireachtas committee will recommend.
The report on urban regeneration will be published on Tuesday and says the forthcoming vacant site tax should be higher than the proposed 3% due to inflation.
The report says that "there are many urban centres in cities, towns, and villages that comprise significant numbers of vacant residential and commercial premises, with many such centres suffering from increasing levels of dereliction, depopulation, and economic decline" but says that regeneration could go "some way" to solving the housing crisis.
It argues that the 3% tax may not be enough to disincentivise the hoarding of land and recommends that the Department "consider increasing the proposed Residential Zoned Land Tax in excess of 3%, particularly given the current inflationary environment".
It adds that Local Authorities "be adequately resourced to enable them to effectively administer and collect the vacant site levy", including funding for additional skilled staff should they be required.
"In the current economic climate of inflation running at approximately 6%, it has been argued that a zoned land tax of 3% will not go far enough to disincentivise land hoarding.
"However, the Committee also note that there are no minimum site size to which the new tax will apply and as such will apply to a greater number of sites and may serve to activate smaller sites in urban centres."
It says that architect Mel Reynolds noted in his evidence that there are currently 137,000 vacant homes in Ireland.
The report recommends:
- - A single national platform be created to integrate, compile and effectively organise existing and future data on vacancy and dereliction into a national data set
- - That the Department examine and consider the establishment of a simplified, streamlined ‘one-stop-shop’ process for those seeking to undertake change of use projects involving the refurbishment of vacant commercial premises for residential use
- - That Revenue be assigned responsibility for collecting the Derelict Site Levy, with the levy to be ringfenced and used towards local authorities’ legal costs and the establishment of one-stop shops for refurbishment