Dear Sir,
To evade the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), property holders are required to submit an application for the dezoning of their land to the same local authority planners who, for the past two years, have affirmed that such land is appropriate for development.
A significant number of these landowners attempted to dezone their land in 2023 and 2024 through these very planners, only to face myriad policy reasons emphasizing the necessity for their land to stay zoned. The idea that planners in 2025 would dezone land based on some foggy assurance in the lead-up to an election is widely regarded with heavy suspicion by the affected farming community.
The Green Party’s insistence that land which escapes RZLT should face dezoning lacks any policy backing and contradicts the principles of “compact growth” and “sequential development.” It appears to be primarily motivated by a wish to inconvenience land owners that refuse to compromise their financial status for the government’s electoral advantage. By stripping these lands of their zoning status, it’s guaranteed they will not witness any development during the duration of the development plan. This action does not facilitate housing provision; instead, it merely furthers the populist rhetoric of “use it or lose it”, which lacks formal codification in any policy. Regardless of a landowner’s unwillingness or inability to sell their land in 2025, the land’s developmental potential isn’t affected. Zoning isn’t an indicator of the landowner’s intentions – it doesn’t force them to sell. Moreover, extra land can be zoned for free, offering alternative locations. It’s ludicrous that much municipally-owned, serviced land remains unzoned due to planning beliefs.
It’s often argued that farmers are trying to double-dip; however, the rebuttal is straightforward. The land will not disappear. According to the State’s assessment, it will stay fit for development, and a significant portion of it will be developed when government tax on capital gains and stamp duty policies make selling viable, or after the owner dies.
Meanwhile, farmers will combat all efforts to coerce them off their land with a vindictive and punitive tax system driven by popular sentiment.
The consideration of zoning should remain as an evaluative judgment regarding the development feasibility of the land. Therefore, the influence of sentimentality and the appeal to popular opinion from politicians with left-wing views should be removed when it comes to the dezoning of land.
The Green Party has demonstrated how zoning falls short as a taxable basis – it is inherently biased, invariably political, and open to manipulative persuasion. – Best regards,
ALEX WILSDON,
Opposition Group Against RZLT,
Kilkenny.