BREAKING: Attempt to reduce property tax for Kildare residents is thrown out

A bid to reduce the amount of property tax paid by Kildare residential property owners has run aground.

A motion tabled by Social Democrats councillor Nuala Killeen, which would have meant an effective 10% reduction failed to win sufficient support at a Kildare County Council meeting. This was seconded by Sinn Féin councillor Noel Connolly. It was voted down by 25-9.

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Instead, a majority of councillors - principally Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil politicians - voted in favour of a counter proposal to retain the current rate of tax, which has a 10% increase “baked-in” as a result of previous increases agreed by KCC.

That motion was put forward by Fianna Fáil’s Suzanne Doyle and seconded by Cllr Evie Sammon (FG) and was passed  by 27 votes to 10.

The tax is worth upwards of €2.7m to KCC a year. The money is generally spent on various projects within the county every year and these are listed with the agreement of the councillors.

Local authorities, like KCC, have the power to increase or decrease the LPT in their own area by a maximum of 15%.