Work is underway to develop a new system for the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) that will exclude active farmers from its scope, according to Tipperary TD Jackie Cahill.
Earlier, Agriland reported that the government is set to defer the onset of the tax by one year from the planned date of February 1 next.
Cahill, the chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, welcomed the development that government ministers were working to exclude farmers from the tax.
He said that pausing and deferring the tax by 12 months, and designing a new system that excludes active farmland, will give certainty to farmers.
“It is hugely welcome that a top budget priority for my party colleague, Minister [for Finance] Jack Chambers, is the exclusion of active farmland from RZLT and the pausing and deferral of the rollout of RZLT for a further 12 months,” the Fianna Fáil TD said.
He added: “The work underway to design a new RZLT system by Minister Chambers, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue that excludes active farmers will, I hope, help to alleviate the fear and anxiety felt by many farmers who have farmland that would have been affected.”
Cahill said that the move would protect both farmland and food production, adding: “There are varied significant challenges across the farming sector and we must do all we can to ensure the viability of farming livelihoods and rural communities.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Minister McConalogue said that the minister welcomes the proposal for the further deferral of the RZLT.
“Having continuously advocated on this issue with colleagues in relation to his concerns of the impact of the tax on active farmers, the minister welcomes the move toward a final resolution for farmers on this issue,” the minister’s spokesperson added.
The tax was due to come into force on February 1 next year. Concerns have been repeatedly raised that the scope of the tax would take in sizeable portions of active farmland.
It is understood that it is the “clear intention” of government that the tax would not include commercially-farmed land within its scope.
The RZLT will be applied at a rate of 3% of land’s market value and is aimed at increasing housing supply by activating zoned and serviced residential development lands (including mixed-use lands) for housing.