Howth/Malahide Fine Gael Councillor Alan Farrell has today Wednesday said that the Fianna Fail government decision to reduce tax relief for non first time buyers is a disgrace and shows a fundamental disregard for the hard pressed home owners who have traded up or moved during the boom.
The decision of the government to reduce tax relief from 20% to 15% is a disgraceful act by the minister which will in certain cases increase mortgage payments by as much as €600 per annum. In Fingal, where the largest proportion of new homes were built over the last few years, home owners who still face uncertainty with banks in the current financial climate now have additional pressures to bear along with the new income tax.
Fianna Fail & The Greens have clearly not learned from history and have made the same mistakes again. If Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen took the Irish economy to the edge of a cliff with their mistakes, Brian Lenihan has just pushed it over the edge.
This budget shows the Fianna Fail/Green government have not only driven this country to its knees by mismanagement, but now plan to renege on their election promises and make it even more difficult for home owners to keep the roof over their heads.
ENDS