The Department of the Environment has confirmed that the Government is examining ways to have a more progressive and fairer property tax in place, possibly as early as 2013.
The move follows growing opposition to the interim flat rate €100 household charge, which home owners will have to pay from next year.
A spokesman for the Environment minister, Phil Hogan, said the Cabinet had agreed to establish an inter-departmental expert group to examine the property tax issue.
The spokesman said the flat rate household charge was always going to be an interim measure, and the Government was anxious to have a fair and progressive property tax in place as soon as possible.
As a result, she said, the working group would begin examining how such a system could be drawn up. The department says there is no deadline for the system to be up and running, but it could be in place as early as 2013, a year earlier than planned.
