Sinn Féin has dismissed a disagreement between Government parties over the residential zoned land tax as "fake", and claimed that deferring the measure for a year is a "sop" to developers and wealthy landowners.
The tax, intended to target those who are hoarding land, is to be delayed by another year after Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Finance Jack Chambers raised concerns that "active" farmers could be adversely affected.
This prompted the Green Party to demand that the tax be introduced in the Budget.
Green Party TD and Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure Ossian Smyth expressed his amazement at the deferral, something Sinn Féin pushed back on today.
"Twice over the last number of years that bill was deferred," Deputy David Cullinane said, adding that the delays had been implemented "collectively by the Government, including by the Green Party".
"We proposed an amendment to the Finance Bill that would have dealt with some of the concerns in relation to active farms - and that should have been accepted by the Government."
"We see this as a sop, especially by Fianna Fáíl, to developers and wealthy landowners," the Sinn Féin TD added.
The residential zoned land tax has been planned for a number of years as an attempt to reduce land hoarding by developers and others during a housing crisis.
Minister Chambers has confirmed that he is "working on proposals" to defer the tax "for a further year, and this is to exclude active farmers".
Simon Harris recently noted that, when he was elected leader of Fine Gael, he had "said it to the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) - it was never meant to be about penalising a farmer, an active farmer".
