Just one in five have paid property tax to date

Just one in five homeowners have paid their property tax to date, just days before the deadline passes for postal forms to be returned.

The Department of Finance confirmed yesterday that €22.2m had been collected from compliant homeowners so far – well short of the €250m target.

Just 332,500 have so far registered to pay out of a total of 1.66 million who are liable.

The deadline for postal returns is Tuesday but you can still register online until May 28^th.

The amounts collected to date and low registration numbers suggest that people are waiting until the last minute to sign up. Revenue expects a compliance rate of 97%.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan, who has registered, said that people would pay the tax.

"The media should know from previous experience of the household charge that they (registrations) do rachet up in the last few days," he said.

"I expect there will be a considerable compliance with this, the same way that 75% complied with the household charge.

"People know they must comply with the law, and know this money is essential to provide local services.

"I will be very happy with whatever Revenue sets as a target.

"With the powers they have, and with the technology they have, I'm sure they'll be able to pursue people, now that we have provided them with a database of 1.2 million people," he added.