‘This is worse than Mercosur’ - anger in Leitrim at mart VAT rates

There was a call for the flat rate VAT introduced in marts to be scrapped, at this month's Leitrim County Council meeting.

Council Cathaoirleach Paddy Farrell claimed that “this is worse than Mercosur” when he spoke about his motion.

“Marts are very angry about this. It looks like the the Marts are taking the tax, which is not the case,” he stated.

In his motion, he asked that the council write to the “Ministers for Agriculture and Finance to scrap the flat rate VAT that was introduced in all marts on January 1st. Marts are being made tax collectors for the state. 

“This flat rate VAT was introduced to compensate non-registered farmers for VAT paid on other goods. This unjust tax will take millions of euros out of the farming community,” the motion continued.

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The motion was supported by another Fianna Fail councillor, Paddy O'Rourke. “This couldn't be coming at a worse time. This is feeding into a situation where the sales yard is being bypassed,” he claimed.

“How this got in beggars belief,” he added.

“I spoke to senators and apparently the Minister for Finance said that there is no instrument that can change it,” Cllr Farrell continued.

Cllr Farrell went on to say that, “if you were selling a number of animals, this is a considerable sum.”

Cllr Eddie Mitchell (Ind) described the tax as “an attack on our marts and an attack on farming.”

However, Cllr Brendan Barry (SF) sounded a note of caution. “If you do away with the flat rate, then farmers will lose €10,000 of a grant. Perhaps the motion needs to be amended. The flat rate of VAT changes every year,” he stated.

“I would suggest writing to the minister to say that the flat rate of VAT, which was 5.1% last year, should never go below the livestock rate, which is 4.8% when an animal is sold in the ring,” Cllr Barry added.

Cllr Barry went on to say that “Revenue have made it a lot harder for unregistered farmers to claim VAT within 12 months.”

It was agreed that the motion would be amended, so as to state that  the flat rate VAT would not go below the livestock rate.