Cork Chamber Urges Caution On Local Property Tax Changes

23rd September 2014

Cork Chamber is calling on the members of Cork City Council to exercise caution when considering any reduction in the Local Property Tax (LPT). It is incumbent on Cork City Council to ensure it continues to be in a position to allocate funds for vital services and to drive economic growth and job creation. If the reduction of the LPT will affect the provision of services and economic development then Cork Chamber would urge Cork City Council to follow the example of other Councils who have not made changes to the LPT rate.

Outlining the Chamber position, Gillian Keating, President of Cork Chamber said, “Cork Chamber has consistently highlighted the unsound reasoning behind a call for a reduction of 15% to the LPT which would result in the potential loss in revenue to the city as a whole in the region of €1.2million. A decision to cut the LPT by 15% would deliver only €33.75 over a full year in savings to the average household in Cork City. Even if the City Council were to reduce the tax by the 5.4% indicated by the Department of Environment this would only result in a saving of €12.15 per average household over the year.”

Ms Keating continued, "The consequence of a 15% reduction in LPT will be the loss of services in an already stretched system. The consequences of a 5.4% cut are the loss to the City Council of potential discretionary funding of over €600,000 that could be used to improve the City’s ability to deliver economic growth and job creation. Therefore we again call for prudence from local government through a no change to LPT vote at their next meeting."

Cork Chamber is the leading business organisation in Cork supporting and representing the interests of approximately 1,100 businesses employing 100,000 people in the region. Cork Chamber has a mandate to develop and promote policy recommendations that create an enabling business environment and support the region’s economic development.

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