Property tax cut but what’s the real cost?

Property tax reductions have sparked arguments over funds for housing the homeless, and the fairness of the tax for Dubliners who pay more and subsidise poorer councils

Homeowners in the capital are subsidising poorer councils inrural areas, but is that a fair price to pay for better amenities? Picture: Bloomberg

A homeowner in Dublin recently summed up the most common complaint about the property tax – the difference in rates between urban and rural homeowners .

He said that city dwellers were paying high property taxes for living in “bog-standard” houses which were separated “by the length of a Chinese chopstick”.

But they had to watch their rural counterparts paying much lower property taxes for “Dallas-style” 5,000 square feet mansions.

The submission, made ...