Sir, - The anti Dublin bias attached to the residential property tax is astounding. There is a widespread and justified grievance in the minds of many Dublin home owners at the manner in which this tax is operated. Out of the overall national figure of £9.5 million raised from it in 1995 £7.38 million was raised from Dublin home owners.
There were 14,300 residential property tax payers from Dublin out of an overall figure of 19,500 taxpayers. Some 77 per cent of all RPT receipts now comes from Dublin homeowners, which flies in the face of the principles of equity, fairness and proportionality supposed to be the corner stones of any tax system.
Many homeowners are struggling to meet monthly mortgages without having to shell out and look out for RPT payments as well. it is time the Minister for Finance recognised that the residential property tax has only heightened the belief of Dublin home owners that there is a bias inherent in our tax system against them.
Since the up to date RPT payments for 1995 were recently published, Ruairi Quinn has yet to commit his department publicly to any changes in the system. The only way by which this bias can be rectified is for the Minister for Finance to consider eliminating or abolishing the tax altogether, forthwith. - Yours, etc.,
European Parliament Office,
Jean Monnet Centre,
43 Molesworth Street,
Dublin 2.