Clare IFA Chair Dismisses Residential Zoned Land Tax As A "Land Grab" 

The Clare branch of the IFA has dismissed the deferred tax on residential zoned land as a "land grab". Finance Minister Jack Chambers has confirmed the Residential Zoned Land Tax, which would see land zoned for residential development taxed at 3% of its market value, has been deferred until next year. The tax had been proposed to target land hoarding by developers, and the Government has revealed plans are afoot to draft a new scheme that will exclude farmers who which it was feared would be inadvertently affected. Feakle native and Chairperson of the IFA in Clare Stephen Walshe believes farmers simply looking to retain land for agricultural use would be punished if the tax was applied.