Laois councillors concerned property tax revenue is being misallocated to neighbouring counties

Laois councillors have raised concerns that Local Property Tax paid by Laois households is being misallocated to local authorities in neighbouring counties.

Local Property Tax is paid by the owners of residential properties. It is collected centrally by Revenue and then paid to the local authority where the residential property is situated for that authority to spend on local services.

The Laois councillors’ concerns stem from the fact that local authority boundaries do not align with Eircode zones. Their apprehension is that, where a home is within the County Laois administrative boundary, but within an Eircode zone primarily associated with another county, Revenue may pay the Local Property Tax revenue from that home to the other county’s local authority.

Cllr Mulligan proposed a motion to write to Revenue and the Minister for State with special responsibility for Postal Policy requesting a full investigation into the discrepancies between Eircodes and the official administrative boundaries of County Laois.

He is seeking that the Minister and Revenue establish whether these discrepancies are affecting the collection and allocation of Local Property Tax revenue to Laois County Council, that they ensure that any errors identified are corrected, and that Laois County Council receive all revenue to which it is entitled.

“The reason I’m bringing it forward is the local property tax is an important revenue stream for Laois County Council,” Cllr Mulligan said. He claimed that Laois County Council has the lowest capital revenue in the country, “so local property tax is vital.”

Cllr Mulligan expressed particular concern about Laois’ southeastern appendage bordering Carlow and Kildare, where the Eircodes of Laois homes share a routing key (the first three characters of an Eircode) with homes in those counties.

He posed the question to the council: “Do we know, or is there a way of telling, that all houses in Laois, their Local Property Tax is coming back into county Laois, and, if not, are there houses identified that are paying into another county?

“I know it goes to central government and comes back in, but I'm just saying, is every house in Laois registered for Laois property tax or are there houses in Laois where the property tax is going into neighbouring counties, namely Kildare or Carlow County Council?”

Independent Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley described the inquiry proposed by Cllr Mulligan as “a vital piece of information that we genuinely need.”

She supported Cllr Mulligan’s motion with reports of another anomaly caused by the discrepancy between Eircode and local authority boundaries:

“We’ve heard it here on many occasions when it’s gave out about the fact that council houses that were built by Laois County Council ended up with Carlow tenants.”[sic]

“And if that is the case, if we’re providing houses, if we’re maintaining the roads for Carlow tenants, then this council should be getting the property tax.”

Cathaoirleach Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald clarified that the concern that Local Property Tax is being paid to neighbouring counties encompasses both social housing and private tenants paying Local Property Tax.