The government has been urged to “leave farmers alone to farm” by the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) and “sort out the mess it has created” with the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT).
It was announced in Budget 2024 that the introduction of the RZLT has been deferred by one year.
The ICSA today (Monday, October 23) called on the government to use the deferral period to rethink its plans for the tax.
The tax – which had been scheduled to come into effect from February next year – will be calculated at 3% of the market value of land “in scope” and will come into force on February 1, 2025.
The aim of the tax according to the government is to activate land for residential development throughout the country, rather than to raise revenue.
But according to ICSA president, Dermot Kelleher, “no farmer can afford to pay a 3% annual tax on an artificially inflated land value”.
“There are plenty of derelict sites, unused and underutilised properties in all cities and towns, as well as land held by developers and other speculators without forcing farmers off the land that they are farming.
“Unfortunately, this is another example of the government showing no respect for land ownership and property rights.
“It fits into a worrying pattern of increased belligerence that farmers are not free to farm and that at a stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen, the farmer will be forced off the land,” Kelleher said.
Last year Local Authorities published draft RZLT maps outlining which lands would be subject to the new annual tax.
Farmers could apply to their local authority to have their land de-zoned but according to the ICSA “many who tried to get de-zoned were turned down”.
Kelleher added: “We have evidence that a standard letter of rejection is being sent almost as a matter of course to every applicant for de-zoning.
“This is not good enough. Someone who has been farming a piece of land and who wishes to continue to do so should be entitled to do so. In many cases, being forced to sell the zoned land will make the rest of the farm unviable.”
The Taoiseach told the Dáil last week (Wednesday, October 18) that the “idea behind the tax is a very good one”.
“There are situations where a family may have been actively farming land for generations, never sought for it to be zoned and would like it to be dezoned so they can continue to farm it.
“That is an anomaly that needs to be corrected. However, there is a concern that, if we do that, people will seek strategic de-zoning in order to avoid the tax,” the Taoiseach added.