Two major chambers of commerce have said they favour the introduction of local property taxes and taxes based on water usage, following the publication of the Commission on Taxation report today.
Chambers Ireland said it supported the recommendations by the Commission that property and water taxes be introduced.
The organisation called on the Government to make "speedy decisions" on the recommendations in the report and on the proposed implementation timeframe.
Chambers Ireland chief executive Ian Talbot said it was vital that now the information is in the public domain Government act "quickly and decisively" to establish what aspects it was going to implement and in what timeframe.
"Failure to do so will result in continued freezing up of transaction activity as people slow down spending until they understand the individual financial impacts," Mr Talbot said.
He said local authorities were under "severe pressure" to meet their budgetary needs following a collapse in development contribution revenues by an average of 63 per cent.
"We cannot continue to avoid dealing with this shortfall. Therefore we fully support the implementation of local taxes based on property and water usage to provide a broader sustainable revenue base for their vital work in all our local communities. The latter will also facilitate the conservation of water supplies - something which is impossible at the moment as there is no way to measure what is consumed."
Mr Talbot said there had to be recognition that the tax system is currently "biased towards transaction activity, exacerbating boom/bust cycles, and has contributed to our current fiscal crisis".
"This report gives us a great opportunity to commence the establishment of a sustainable, equitable and broad based tax system for the future, enabling us to manage through economic downturns better."
However, Dublin Chamber chief executive Gina Quin said the annual property tax recommendation would create inefficient local government instead of making a sustainable tax base.
“It is usually the case that property taxes are local, as they are linked to local services. The commission’s recommendation separates this linkage and will end up punish those living in urban areas, where it is more cost-effective for local authorities managing services," she said.
“We believe that the property tax rate should be set by each local authority. Therefore, they will be accountable directly to local taxpayers for what they collect and then how they spend it. The more efficient they are in running their local authority and provide the services needed by local taxpayers the lower that rate could be. This linkage of revenue to services will make the tax system truly sustainable.”
On the issue of congestion charging and road pricing, the Chamber said it hoped the Minister for Transport and local authorities would listen to the advice of the Commission that the full availability of public transport alternatives, and full consultation with stakeholders, were "prerequisite to any debate on congestion charging or road pricing".
Dublin Chamber said it welcomed the broadening of water charges to include domestic users.
“By making private households subject to water charges, Ireland would be accepting the polluter pays principal, which so far has only been applied to businesses. We believe the existing lack of domestic water charges in Ireland has served only to lead to a lack of conservation in our culture."