We pay price for mistakes of Budget
THE Government has clearly run out of ideas when it comes to the housing crisis.
For the first time in recent history, renters were actually given some consideration in the Budget.
But the €500 tax credit will be swallowed up before tenants feel its benefit. It amounts to only 2.89 per cent of the yearly average rent.
For Dublin-based tenants, where costs are highest, it equals just seven days’ rent.
This small sum won’t be keep a roof over anyone’s head when rents are spiralling and the number of properties is at an all-time low.
The Help to Buy scheme has been extended for another two years despite no proof that it is working.
The Government is seemingly ignoring the recent report from the Parliamentary Budget Office which found a third of recipients did not need the financial assistance.
Poorly-targeted
And almost two thirds, 63 per cent, of HelpTo-Buy claims made last year were for properties valued above the national average.
The scheme is poorly-targeted, increasing the purchasing power of those who have large deposits and pushing house prices higher. A total failure that’s set to continue.
The long-awaited vacant homes tax seems to be a non-starter before it’ s even been rolled out. The tax, which will be charged at a rate equal to three times the property’s existing Local Property Tax rate, will mostly affect holiday home owners who may have never made the property available to rent.
It’s the owners of abandoned, derelict and long-term vacant buildings that need the hit.
And it seems crazy to impose a 10 per cent levy on concrete blocks in the midst of a housing crisis. This Government is getting it wrong and we’re paying the price for it.