The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said that it “beggars belief” that some farmers will potentially be charged, from 2024, for the “privilege of farming privately owned land” which they have done for years, or possibly even generations.
President of the IFA, Tim Cullinan said: “Farmers shouldn’t be penalised by imposing a Residential Zoned Land Tax [RZLT] on them, simply due to the location of the land they are farming.
“It has to be recognised that farmers are private land owners, not builders. Farmers have land to farm it, not hoard it as an investment.
“Thousands of farmers have land being encroached upon by towns and villages around the country that may be zoned both residential and serviced, purely by virtue of being close to a town, rather than by any intent on the part of the farmer,” he added.
Tax on land
The RZLT was introduced by the Finance Act 2021 and will come into effect from 2024, managed by the Revenue Commissioners.
According to the government, the tax and the associated guidelines are part of a suite of integrated measures and policy direction within the ‘Housing for All’ policy to:
- Engage lands in cities and towns;
- Create compact and integrated communities;
- Aid brownfield regeneration;
- Activate greenfield landbanks for housing;
- Support place making and growth of sustainable communities.
However, the IFA has said that farmers need to be consulted prior to the rezoning of any area for residential development.
“Land cannot be rezoned in county development plans without the prior knowledge of landowners, which is happening at the moment,” Cullinan said.
IFA National Farm Business Committee chair, Rose Mary McDonagh said: “IFA fully appreciates the difficulties that the shortage of housing is causing. However, we strongly oppose the inclusion of farmland under the Residential Zoned Land Tax.
“It’s not fair on these farmers who fall liable for this tax simply because of their location.
“It is one of the key priorities in our Budget 2023 submission, and we will be engaging with politicians in the weeks ahead to highlight our case and get this issue resolved,” McDonagh added.
However, the government has said that by encouraging the development of appropriately zoned and serviced land, the measure will:
- Activate greenfield landbanks and brownfield lands for housing and regeneration, increasing housing supply of differing tenures and designs
- Support other key policies contained in Housing for All, including Land Value Sharing, Town Centres First, Croi Conaithe (Cities) and (Towns) due to the identification and prioritisation of vacant and idle land for redevelopment and regeneration;
- Support the accommodation of anticipated population growth and their housing and social infrastructural needs, by directing growth to land which is appropriately serviced, where activation of planning permission for housing is incentivised and thereby providing greater certainty for delivery agencies as to the need for facilities and services to support existing and future residential communities.