This article is from page 8 of the 2013-03-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THERE are serious anomalies between the value the Revenue Commissioners is placing on Clare properties and their market value.
That is according to Diarmuid McMahon of Sherry FitzGerald Ennis who said it is using wide brush strokes to value houses, which make little of no sense in reality.
He explained that the Revenue is valuing all semi-detached properties in an area in the same price range irrespective of size.
Likewise detached modest rural family homes are being placed in the same price category as large houses or mansions.
The Ennis estate agent warned the onus is on the homeowner however to ensure that the value price is correct, even if the State under values it. The owner is liable for any underpayment of the new tax.
The Revenue Commissioners launched its website to help home owners to calculate how much they will have to pay in property tax from the second half of this year.
A letter indicating the same is expected in the coming days.
Meanwhile the property tax is prompting a director of a Clare based voluntary housing scheme to resign.
The inclusion of voluntary housing along with private landlords and local authorities as being liable for Property Tax (on family housing) has precipitated a crisis for Rural Resettlement Ireland, according to its chairman Jim Connolly.
“The Government has radically moved the goalposts. Neither I nor any other director over the years signed up to become tax collectors. The onerous responsibilities of being directors of charitable Companies Limited by Guarantee under the Companies Act make it almost impossible nowadays to recruit new directors. The latest addition of shouldering the responsibility for paying property tax on large numbers of social houses is the last straw,” he said.
“I have publicly declared my intention of resigning as a director of RRI if the situation described above is confirmed in the Finance Act. I cannot speak for other directors or other Voluntary Housing associations.”