Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 18 April 2018.
Diolch, Llywydd. On 13 February this year, the Cabinet Secretary said that the vacant land tax is to have an impact on behaviour rather than to raise revenue. In the Republic of Ireland, the tax barely covers the cost of collection, which is just something that has got to be borne in mind. I wonder to what extent the Cabinet Secretary is able to say that land banking is a real problem in Wales, rather than just a perception, because Laura Harry, a planning consultant from Barton Willmore, an independent planning and design consultancy, says that
'while in theory a Vacant Land Tax is intended to increase house building, it may have the opposite effect and make Wales less attractive to housebuilders and undermine the Welsh Government’s housing ambitions', which is something, obviously, that the Cabinet Secretary would not wish to see. So, is this tax perhaps directed at a problem that is more illusory than real?