We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS has said it is “offensive” to describe farmers as land-hoarders as he defended plans to defer the introduction of Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT).
The Irish Independent reported today that an exemption for farmers to the tax was on the cards, following backlash from farmers whose land was zoned for residential development but was being used for agricultural purposes.
Harris told reporters today that the exemption is required before the residential land tax can be introduced.
The RZLT is designed to be charged at a rate of 3% of the market value of the land which is zoned for residential use.
The measure was announced in budget 2022, in a bid to incentivise landowners to activate existing planning permissions to increase housing supply. There was a long lead in time to allow landowners to be put on notice, with the new tax set to kick in in February, with bills coming due in May 2025.
Harris said he was supportive of the concept of a land tax to address housing supply, but warned that further delays were possible.
It is “important” that farmers are separated from it “because it’s offensive to tell a farmer that they’re a land hoarder when they’re actively farming and playing an important part in our economy”, he said.
“As long as I’m Taoiseach, no active farmer is going to pay a residential land tax – simple as.”
“This land tax is absolutely about making sure people can’t hoard land. It was never meant to be about penalising an active farmer,” said the Taoiseach.
Harris said the government will collectively decide on the approach taken to the matter in the Budget on 1 October but added that the Department of Finance needs “to fix” the legislation underpinning the charges.
“It needs to come forward with proposals as to how this legislation can be applied to those who are hoarding land – because I don’t want to see people hoarding land, I want to see homes built.
“But I also do not want to see and will not stand over a situation where active farmers wrongly get classified as land hoarders.”
The Taoiseach said he is open to the department either bringing forward amendments or a decision to defer the legislation for another year.
Sinn Féin has said the comments are a “boon for land hoarders”.
The party finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said: “The Government’s decision to delay a land tax that is aimed at land hoarders who are sitting on land that should be developed to build much needed housing is a disgraceful one.
“Let’s be clear – this is a direct result of this Government’s abject failure over the past three years to exempt actively farmed land from this tax.
“I first raised this issue in 2021 – three years ago – with the Minister for Finance when the legislation for this tax was first introduced.”
He added: “As a result of their inaction and ineptitude, land hoarders have another year to sit on land that should be developed to build homes.
“Through a toxic mix of political opportunism, inaction and ineptitude, the Government has chosen to worsen the housing crisis and hand land hoarders and speculators another free pass.”
Separately, the Taoiseach emphasised again the need for a cost-of-living package in the upcoming budget.
He said the government is “eager to do more” in the budget to help families and those struggling to make ends meet.
“Of course, we can all point to statistics that show inflation falling and showing prices falling, but let’s also be honest, that has not yet been felt by parents, by families, by businesses, by farmers,” he said.
“That’s why there absolutely will be cost-of-living package as part of the budget on the 1 October, and that’s a cost-of-living package that will kick in by the end of next year,” he said.
“I think it’s important when the country is doing well, when the country will have an economic surplus… I think it’s important that we use a proportion of that to help families, to help businesses, to help people who are struggling to make ends meet, and of course, we will work with our government partners on the composition of the size and the makeup of that package in the weeks ahead,” Harris added.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The amount of wealthy people that have massive estates that claim eu farming grants and avail of every tax loophole available to farmers but have never done anything but a token bit of farming is a national disgrace
@Robert Halvey: The many tax loopholes are being used and abused are the gift of FG party.
They are truly a gift that keeps on giving , but are real recipients?????
@JOHN O CONNELL: If only there was a credible opposition – but there isn’t.
@Robert Halvey: have you stats on that?
@sean callan: i totally agree. Thanks for your insight. Its nice to be nice.
@Thomas Sheridan: anyone at this stage could do a better job.
Need to break the cycle.
If a farmer has a large farm that’s fine, It’s in use. If a farmer has a large farm and doesn’t use the land, that’s not fine, that makes him a land hoarder and part of the problem. All the Best.
What a farce. FFG and their landowning cartel are no better than the Brits that carved up the Irish land and put the Irish people in poverty. I think people should consider treating them as treasonous turncoats and seize the land off them to divide among the many struggling families that need family homes but are locked out of the housing market.
What a scam; “farmed” land that is zoned for residential purposes should be subject to compulsory rezoning to agriculture if it is supposed to be agricultural land or else it gets hit with the tax.
@Lewis Armstrong: Totally agree and it really should be that simple.
@Lewis Armstrong: quite a lot of farmers didn’t even know their land had been rezoned
Pay a property tax?… pay a land tax.
IRISH FARMERS ARE TREATED BY THE IRISH GOVBERNMENT AS A CHARITY.
I LIVE IN GREECE AND (A) NO IRISH BUTTER IS ON SALE – ONLY DAINISH BUTTER (B) IRISH BEEF IS NOT AVAILABLE – ONLY ARGENTINE BEEF (C) IRISH PORK IS NOT AVAILABLE – ONLY DUTCH PORK
THE IRISH GOVBERNMENT MUIST STOP FUNDING THE IRISH FARMER.WHY SHOULD HE WORK HIS GUTS OUT WHEN THE IRISH TAXPAYER WILL SUBSIDE HIS WAY OF LIVING.THE IRISH GOVERNMENT SHOULD TREAT FARMERS AS A BUSINESS TO BE RUN ON BUSINESS LINES.
@Brian Smith: You need a lot of education, Brian. I don’t have the time this evening, but enjoy your dinner and tea this evening, which will be very cheap because of subsidies to irish farmers who supply everything you eat daily. If farmers were allowed charge the actual value of the food they produce there would be alot of hunger and you’d be crying a river about that too.
@Brian Hallinan: Brain miss a brain since you can’t read that he isn’t living in Ireland therefore no feeding himself 100% subsided food.
@Brian Hallinan: Farmland should be cut by 50% in Ireland. Most meat and dairy are exported. It’s 100% useless when we need land for other things than destroying the environment.
@Brian Hallinan:
Here’s the thing: There wouldn’t be actually a lot hunger.
Spending on food relatively to income has going down for for decades.
The (EU) subsides for farming could easily be used for tax cuts or SW increases to counter the increases in food prices.
Problem: A lot of countries subsidies farmers in the same way (started in the US almost 100 years ago).
Therefore, you have to keep going with subsidising, because other countries are doing it.
To put it simple: If you have €100 more in your pocket every month, it’s no loss to you if you have to pay €100 more on food without farmers getting subsidies.
@Alex: and do what with 50% of the farmland, build houses? Goodbye to rural Ireland so, and goodbye to the charm that we are known for
@Wolfgang Bonow: the subsidies a being replaced with environmental payments. To many officials to be made redundant for it to be got rid of
@Wolfgang Bonow: from my understanding subsidies were brought in to help stabilise food production.
Food is essential. Can pure market economics lead to a fair price? Would a system where food is short lead to hunger and who should go hungry first.
Subsidies in the new CAP are also aimed at the environment such as the ACRES programme.
How level is the market for free economics. Animal and environmental welfare are far higher in Europe than anywhere else globally. European agriculture will slowly disappear without subsidies and food will be just imported from other parts of the world.
Take out suckler cow for example. Falling in numbers due to a lack of profit. Meanwhile Brazil has plans to increase cattle numbers by 24 million. Why are they not worried about emissions.
@Brian Smith: Was in Vietnam, Kerrygold in every supermarket I went to
@jak: really Brazil,my god,you clearly have no idea about irish farming or farming in general.
Just FG baking loopholes into policies they’re implementing to look like they’re doing something. FFG wants nothing more than property prices to keep rising to placate its boomer voterbase, who for some reason, despite never wanting to move, are blinded by greed in seeing their property value go up.
The Irish Government is the largest owner of land, go figure.
@Temp Stuff: What’s this yank term ‘go figure’ all about.
@donal finn: it’s not a “yank term” it’s actually English….but its meaning is probably beyond your intellectual comprehensiveness as you don’t even know its origin .
You can’t beat a good lobbyists!
Why would any land tax apply to farmers both rich and not so rich?. Aren’t most of their children in university courtesy of Susi grants because their land holding value isn’t taken into account when means tested. Don’t touch the poor farmer. Joe public will cover all their expenses. FFS.
Bloody farmers and landlords hoarding land and young people leaving because they cannot get a site or a house.what would you expect from the leader of the farmers party.
That’s this tax dead and buried if farmers have exemptions. You’ll see sheep on plots like the RTE residential lands soon..
And Enda said it was immoral to tax the family home.
If the land in question has been zoned residential and the farmer is still using it as agricultural then it needs to be rezoned as agricultural. Then the state should CPO it as agricultural land and kept as a state land bank. The reason it was zoned residential was because it was needed to meet the growing populations housing needs not for farmers/landowners to get rich off.
@The next small thing: Building homes in the middle of the countryside won’t meet our growing population’s needs. It was tried before and it didn’t work and we were left with ghost estates littering the country. People want to live close to where they work. Not spending hours in cars getting to and from work. We need to get over ourselves and start building higher than 6-8 storey apartment blocks.
@Ger Whelan: No we don’t, getting harder to see skyline in Dublin, apartments everywhere, many empty. We need housing yes but family homes 2 and 3 beds. Where kids can play and families can gather, not stuck in high rised apartments, where you don’t see anything or anyone.
Certainly not good for a country with already huge mental health problems.
Let’s have a General Election.
There’s a few who are cute hoarders, though…
A deferred tax. The greens won’t be happy.
Tax all property, irrespective of its use
This tax is ludicrous.
There’s an unusable 1/2 acre attached to my house. In a flood zone.
Can’t get permission to build on it.
Used to be zoned agricultural.
But the Council have ruled it subject to this tax after rezoning it.
Gangster move.
@Paul: There is definitely something you can do with it. Bit of research. Wonder could you get a grant for ‘re wilding’ lol, maybe if the land is agri you can get a farming licence, get some of those sweet tax breaks, wind, solar, anyway theres always something you can do, But yea regardless I’ll bet the council find a way to take more from regardless! They do make it very difficult to be self sustainable/off grid tho… they prefer the 15 minute city for everyone, buy from a developer, franchise over individual etc.
No land to farm and no farmers = no food
@jak: but they apparently are running out of water
‘It’s offensive to call active farmers landholders’. Who ever did? And why does this have to be delayed more just to make sure actively farmed land doesn’t fall into it? The answer is because the government don’t want to take any decisions that will upset landowners because they don’t really want to interrupt their money making activities. They really either do not get or do not care just how bad things are out there for people just trying to put a roof over their heads. This is going to come with major societal issues.
Fine Gael! As always the party of the big farmer!
have your say