Would you rather tax gardens or jobs? The Site Value Tax debate
On Hogan’s Stand – or how to introduce an interim property charge fairly
The imminent introduction of water and property charges has sparked anger among most Irish people, not least because as flat charges, or poll taxes, they are unfair. This post outlines a better way of introducing an interim property charge, namely by breaking down the country into ten different bands based on land value, and then presents a map of the bands, based on 200,000 daft.ie ads in 2009 and 2010. Such an interim system would be significantly fairer and could be tailored to bring in €1.5bn when fully running. Read more
Ideas for building Property Market 3.0
This post looks at what foundation stones the Government should put in place to build the next generation of Ireland’s property market. It briefly reviews two that I’ve discussed before – the importance of a national house price register and a land value tax – before outlining two further proposals in more detail. A set-in-stone minimum deposit would greatly reduce the potential for policy to amplify bubbles, while banning variable rate mortgages would not only protect vulnerable households but also reduce the degree to which the economy is subject to ECB-induced recessions. Read more
The MC Hammer approach: Ireland’s new Programme for Government
This post reviews the Programme for Government agreed by Ireland’s new coalition partners, across three headings. The first is the urgent problem of Ireland’s debt burden, the second is the more medium-term issue of the deficit, while the final heading covers the long-term issues of mortgage arrears and unemployment. While there are many things to be welcomed in the new Programme for Government, on these headings at least, there is an alarming lack of coherence and detail. Read more