The property tax and a ‘modest’ rise

Sir, – I note that Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe's comments to the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight will outline how at "just 0.6 per cent of GDP, the local property tax yield is low when compared to rates of 2.6 per cent of GDP in France and over 3 per cent of GDP in the UK" ("'Modest' increases planned for property tax next year", News, June 11th).

I assume in the interests of total transparency that he will also point out that mortgage rates in France are approximately half those in Ireland, and that income earners in the United Kingdom do not have to pay extortionate rates of income tax on very modest incomes. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN MURPHY,

Dublin 18.