23 November 2007
Northern Ireland faces a shake-up of its rating system, following recommendations from the Assembly's Finance and Personnel Committee.
In a report published on November 22, the committee proposed rebates for households with low energy consumption and generation of rubbish. It also considered applying road-charging.
The committee was responding to Finance Minister Peter Robinson's consultation on the future of rates in Northern Ireland. Members rejected the use of local taxes on income, sales or tourism. It said the Northern Ireland Assembly should not, at present, have income tax-varying powers.
Amendments should be made, said the committee, to the system of domestic rates – which are used to fund district councils and partly fund Northern Ireland government departments. Pensioners over 75 should have a discount, as should all single pensioners.
The rates cap – which treats all properties as being worth no more than £500,000 – should be reconsidered. The permitted savings limit of £16,000 for rates relief should be raised.
The committee rejected a general rates discount for single households, but recommended an additional rate on second homes and a derelict land tax on land zoned for development.
The committee chair, Sinn Fein's Mitchel McLaughlin, told Public Finance he was unsure whether the proposals for road-charging and green tax credits would be supported by the Assembly as a whole, but he was hopeful. 'The committee, made up of all parties, addressed this positively,' he said.
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