Property tax website only adds to homeowners' fury and confusion

A palatial home in Clarinbridge – which boasts its own tennis court and floodlit football pitch – currently on the market for €2.3 million, will be liable for a property tax of just €157 this year.

According to Revenue’s database for the new Local Property Tax (LPT), the house has an estimated value of €175,000.

The Revenue website has been branded “quite poor” by local auctioneers, because it fails to recognise significant differences in valuations between different parts of Galway.

And a two-bed bungalow at Sun Street in Tuam – sold at a receivership auction last July for €39,000 – has an estimated value of €125,000 which would cost €112 for a half-year or €225 for a full year’s tax.

There are also vast discrepancies across the board – broad geographical areas sharing the same tax band, despite significant differences in size, popularity of location and recent selling prices.

For example, a modest four-bed detached house in Oranhill, Oranmore sold last July for €200,000, while a luxurious high-spec 4,000 square foot home in the Bramley development one mile up the road sold for €510,000 in November. (The Bramley home was originally on the market for €2.1m at the height of the boom).

Both properties are in ‘Band 3’ (valued at between €150,000 to €200,000) – as are hundreds of standard three- and four-bed semis in the area – which works out at €157 for a half-year or €315 for next year.

Unrealistically, the properties given the highest valuation in County Galway are detached homes in Barna built post-2000 – valued at between 200,000 and €250,000 in ‘Band 4’ (a half-year tax rate of €202).

See full story and complete breakdown of valuations for the county in this week's Connacht Tribune.