Taoiseach’s Commitment on Land Tax a Move in Right Direction

IFA Farm Business Chair Rose Mary McDonagh has said that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s commitment in the Dáil yesterday to ‘fix’ the new Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) this summer, so that it does not threaten the livelihoods of active farmers, is a move in the right direction.

“It is encouraging to see that the Government is at last realising the devastating affect this penal tax would have had on farm families throughout the country. Actively farmed land isn’t in any way land hoarding or speculation and its positive that the Government seem to accept that,” Ms McDonagh said.

“We have been lobbying for an exemption since the RZLT was mooted in the Finance Act in 2021, and our offer to meet and work with Government to find a fair and equitable solution to this issue still stands. A framework can be put in place that would identify what is genuinely farmed land to protect farm families from a severe annual tax liability,” she said.

“Amended legislation is required urgently that ensures actively farmed land is excluded from the RZLT. Oherwise, it will financially ruin farm families across every village and town in Ireland,” the IFA Farm Business Chair concluded.