Sir, - The recent kite flying (I presume it was such) suggestion that a large increase in road tax might be used to fund the abolition of residential property tax and service charges, should have raised alarm bells throughout the country. Because road tax is raised locally by county councils, one can understand that it must have its attractions from an administrative point of view.
However, anything which adds further to the already high costs of transport - domestic or freight - should be resisted. Public transport is not an option in most rural areas and if people are to travel, they must have a vehicle of some sort. Furthermore, many of the services for which service charges are levied are not provided in rural areas, and relatively few rural properties are eligible for property tax.
Some wiser method to fund local government must be found. Employees of this and many other companies in rural areas must have cars to be able to get to work. Why should they be asked to dig deeper into their pockets to make up for the abolition of RPT and service charges? The last thing we need is an extra burden on rural enterprise which can only add further to rural decline. - Yours, etc.,
Managing director,
Lakeshore Foods Ltd,
Ballinderry village,
Nenagh,
Co Tipperary.