Sir, – Barra Roantree’s advocacy for a substantial hike in the Local Property Tax (“I’m sorry, but your local property tax needs to go up”, October 19th) is completely detached from the punishing financial reality faced by ordinary homeowners.
His argument conveniently glosses over the brutal bottom line. Using his own figure of a 30 per cent property price increase, a home bought at the average Dublin price of €405,000 in 2021 sees its LPT bill rocket from €405 to €523. Let’s be clear: this is a staggering 29 per cent hike.
To frame this as anything other than a significant financial blow to a household budget is disingenuous.
This punitive tax is levied on a phantom, unrealised gain. It actively punishes prudent families, pensioners, and workers on ordinary salaries whose only “crime” was to secure a home.
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A family home is the bedrock of financial security, not a speculative chip to be cashed in for the exchequer’s benefit. Rising paper values do not pay soaring tax demands.
Loading the tax burden so aggressively on to homeowners is not just unfair; it is a direct assault on the squeezed middle. – Yours, etc,
XIAOYU SUN,
Royal Canal Park
Dublin.
