Residential zoned land tax among key IFA budget issues

Issues such as residential zoned land tax, delay on farm payments, ash die-back, and the maintenance of stock relief were top of the agenda for the IFA as they met with local elected representatives. The meetings were to discuss pre-budget submissions ahead of the Budget 2024, which will be announced on Tuesday, October 10.

“If a farmer owns land on the edge of a town that has been zoned, they are liable to a three per cent tax on the value of this land,” explained Cavan IFA Chairman Maurice Brady.

“As this is more valuable than normal land they could be hit with a tax bill of over €15,000 for owning three acres. We feel that farmers who are actively farming this land should be entitled to do so and we’re looking for them to be exempt from this tax.”

Mr Brady said the tax should still be applied to developers and others who have bought land with the intention of developing it.

“Leo Varadkar said it was an anomaly. He said he was speaking with other government ministers about a potential solution.

“Housing is a big issue, so if someone has bought land and is just sitting on it then they should still be subject to it. But some farmers might not even know that the land they have is zoned, and all of a sudden they are hit with a huge bill. They often won’t be able to sell the land to other farmers because nobody will buy it if they too are going to be subject to the same tax bill.”

Delays in payment schemes are also an issue according to Mr Brady.

“There have been no TAMS payments, this has resulted in farmers not being able to do the projects that they need to or even having to go ahead and do projects without grant aid.

“There are over 750 farmers waiting to put in solar panels using the Solar Capital Investment Scheme (SCIS), which is a massive issue.

“We also want a scheme where landowners can be assisted in removing ash trees affected by Ash Die Back near roads. Infected trees in plantations are covered, but there’s nothing for those on the side of the road, which pose a safety risk, but are expensive to remove. We’d like to see a national scheme where they can be cut for the biomass industry.

“We also want to see the maintenance of the current rate of stock relief.”