No cut to property tax in meath

Meath homeowners will be forced to take the full brunt of the Local Property Tax (LPT) after councillors voted on Tuesday to maintain the tax at its full rate despite calls for reductions.
Meath County Council decided against any cut, following the example of Roscommon and Kerry County Councils and Galway City Council and ignoring cuts in the tax in counties like neighbouring Dublin (where it was reduced by the full 15 per cent), Cork (-10 per cent), Wicklow (-15 per cent) and Kildare (-7.5 per cent).
More than 54,000 homes in Meath have been registered for LPT and the average payment sought from householders will be €266, councillors were told.
There were four proposals before the 35 councillors at the meeting this week (five councillors were absentees). Fine Gael proposed that the amount of LPT payable should not be cut, Sinn Fein proposed a 15 per cent cut, Fianna Fail five per cent, and independent Cllr Joe Bonner a two per cent cut.
Tne Fianna Fail proposal was defeated by 20 votes to 15 while an amendment by Fine Gael to leave the LPT at its current rate was carried by 19 votes to 16.