Property Tax is a good thing, but only one type of it.

We had an opinion piece in the Sunday Times this week in the ‘Money’ section, it was about property tax and the different types that the state have to choose from, property tax could be a very beneficial option for Ireland but only if it is implemented correctly and done on the correct basis, otherwise it just becomes straightforward ‘revenue raising’.

You can read the article by clicking on the image to the left, which is the .pdf version of the text below:

Everybody hates the idea of a property tax—except me. I believe it is the solution to much of what went wrong in Ireland and it could have prevented many of our present and future economic ills. The only caveat is that we must have a corresponding reduction in income taxes. Otherwise it would merely be another form of revenue raising by the government.

There are three options the state could choose from—a property tax, which includes …

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Postcodes: a prelude to property tax

I think that the introduction of postcodes will usher in the foundation for property tax, and that the gains to be had from postal efficiency are not at the heart of the move toward a comprehensive postcode system.

Just to give the background to this post, the Sunday Tribune reported:

Residents in Dublin’s coveted D4 addresses have only two years left until their exclusive postcode is renamed by the Department of Communications, as plans for the new postcode system are finalised by Minister Eamon Ryan. The department plans to issue tenders for the system by Easter, but a delay has meant the code will not be in place until the end of 2011, and not early next year as planned.

Under the new coding system, areas such as Dublin 4 and Dublin 6 will be renamed under a new six-digit system, such as D04123 and D06123. However Labour’s spokeswoman for Communications, Energy and Natural Re­sources, Liz McManus, said the latest estimates for the new system …

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