Review of rates system under way

PROPOSALS RELATING to the evaluation of commercial rates would be brought to Government shortly, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan told the Dáil.

He said the commissioner for valuation, in consultation with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, had been reviewing various options for streamlining the valuation process.

A programme of revaluation of all commercial and industrial properties was under way to provide current valuations of properties subject to local authority rates.

“The purpose of the revaluation is to redistribute commercial rates liabilities among ratepayers based on up-to-date property values,’’ he said.

Mr Hogan said local authorities had responded positively to requests from his department and himself to exercise restraint in recent years in setting commercial rates. He said the Government was acutely aware of the pressures on many businesses and the challenging economic environment in which property and business owners were operating.

The income from rates was a very important contribution to the cost of services provided by local authorities, said Mr Hogan.

The Minister was replying to Fianna Fáil spokesman on local government Niall Collins, who said reform of commercial rates should be at the forefront of efforts to generate economic activity.

Mr Collins said the financial strains on retailers, pubs, hotels and companies across the State were immense, adding the UK model offered an alternative way forward for a new system. Economic conditions and the ability to pay on the part of the business were taken into account there. Councils had the power to exempt struggling businesses from paying rates and rural firms had a 50 per cent exemption.