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User:rorynoonanDate:13/03/2013Time:09:02:17Edition:13/03/2013Wedwedecho130313Page:1Color:

S e r v i n g C o r k f o r 1 2 0 y e a r s

EE - V1

EDITION NO. 34,858WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013 RRP: e1.50

13.03.13

Recommendedretail price

€1.50

Crossing the roadcosts extra e135Two sides ofstreet, twohouse taxes

By MARY SMITHWICKPolitics Editor

€225 in property tax each year — a sig-nificant increase on the €90 due eachyear on houses in the lower band. Theproperty tax is based on 19 bands ofhouse values, which go up on €50,000increments.While it’s up to each householder to

assess themselves for the tax, the Rev-enue Commissioners has given a roughestimate of the value of different typesof houses in different areas.But the on-line calculator has been

criticised as being too crude. It does nottake house size or condition into ac-count, and several significant anom-alies have been discovered.Revenue’s response is that it is only

giving guidelines to property owners,and it is not providing strict valuationson individual properties.However, in Gurranabraher, local

Sinn Féin councillor Thomas Gouldfears the different valuations will leadto confusion, and he fears that some

WHENcancrossing the roadcost you €135? If your prop-erty tax assessment is basedon the Revenue Commis-sioner’s on-line calculator,that’s when.

Terraced houses on one side ofpart of Cathedral Road in Gur-ranabraher have been valued asbeing worth less than €100,000 bythe Revenue Commissioner’s onlinecalculator.But across the road, almost

identical houses have been put intoa higher band, with an estimatedvalue of between €100,000 and€150,000. If householders acceptedthat valuation, they’d have to pay

householders, particularly olderpeople, will end up over-paying the tax.Cllr Gould said that while household-

ers can and should use their own valu-ations, he fears that many ordinaryhouseholders are nervous of the systemand would not challenge the Revenue’sinitial estimate of value.“It’s a self-assessed tax, and many

people are nervous of it,” he said.Cathedral Road resident Maurice

O’Neill said that he would be valuinghis house at €85,000, no matter whathis assessment from the Revenue Com-missioners is — but he fears olderneighbours will simply accept whatRevenue tells them.It’s believed that some of the bound-

aries for the estimation of house valueshave been based on electoral districts,leading to the anomalies.

Councillor ThomasGould(third left) with local res-idents Maurice O’Neill,Noreen O’Connell andKarl Mullan on CathedralRoad, where houses onopposite sides of theroad have a valuation dif-ference of €50,000.

Picture: David Keane.

Cheltenham fanswith Mr Ed outside

O’Driscoll’s of Douglas.● Pages 2, 3, 34 and 38.

Picture: Denis Scannell

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