4 ways Stormont could tax wealth to fund public services in Northern Ireland

Stormont says there is no money left. But Northern Ireland can still raise more from wealth, high-value property and big business to fund public services.

Every time people call for better public services, we hear the same answer from Stormont: there’s no money.

No money to cut waiting lists. No money to improve schools. No money to fix broken infrastructure. No money to properly invest in the services people rely on every day.

But that is only part of the story.

Stormont may not control every tax lever, but it does have real power over rates and reliefs. That means it can make choices about who is asked to contribute more, and who gets protected.

Right now, too often, the people and companies with the deepest pockets are still being let off lightly.

Here are four ways Stormont could raise more money from wealth and big business to help fund public services in Northern Ireland.

1) Scrap the cap on rates for the most expensive homes

If you live in an ordinary home, you are expected to pay your rates like everyone else.

But if you live in one of the most expensive homes in Northern Ireland, there is a limit on how much of your property value can be counted for rates. That means owners of very high-value homes are protected from paying more, even while everyone else is told public services cannot be improved.

Stormont recently increased that cap from £400,000 to £485,000, but the Department of Finance said that would raise only around £2 million a year. It also acknowledged that the cap reduces how much the highest-value properties contribute.

At a time when households are paying more for the basics and public services are under huge pressure, it is hard to justify a system that still softens the bill for owners of the most expensive homes.

That money could be invested in the infrastructure Northern Ireland badly needs, including the water system that is currently holding back new housing and social housing development. A fairer rates system would not solve the housing crisis on its own, but it would mean those with the most valuable property wealth contribute more towards the services and infrastructure everyone depends on.

If ministers are serious about fairness, they should go further and abolish the cap altogether.

2) End the rates discount for big industrial companies

Most people would assume that large, profitable companies are already paying their fair share.

But in Northern Ireland, some industrial properties still get a major reduction on their rates bill through a scheme called industrial derating. Official guidance says qualifying businesses pay only 30% of the normal occupied rates, which means a 70% discount.

That might sound technical, but the reality is simple: while ordinary households are paying their full rates bill and being told there is no money for better public services, some of the biggest companies operating here are still getting a huge break.

Act Now’s own member-funded investigation into industrial derating, based on Freedom of Information requests, found that this policy gives major rates discounts to some of the largest companies operating in Northern Ireland.

Although some smaller businesses may benefit from this policy, Stormont can reform industrial derating so that businesses with multi-million-pound profits are no longer handed major discounts at the public’s expense.

A household in Belfast, Derry or Ballymena does not get 70% knocked off its rates bill when money is tight. Why should a multinational company?

Money currently lost through major industrial rates discounts could instead be used to strengthen the public services and infrastructure that communities and workers rely on every day, from roads and transport links to health services, schools and local facilities.

Stormont should end this handout and use the money to support the services people actually rely on every day.

3) Ask the biggest companies to contribute more

Even beyond rates discounts, there is a bigger question Stormont should be asking: if some companies are generating enormous revenues and paying out massive dividends, why are ministers so reluctant to ask more of them?

If a company can afford to post huge revenues and hand out massive dividends, it can afford to put more back into the society it profits from.

Take LCC Group as one example. The billion-pound Cookstown-based fuel and energy company, which supplies heating oil, coal and other fuel services, generated £1.12 billion in revenue in the year to March 2025 and paid a dividend of £89.8 million to its parent company. The same reporting cited a family wealth estimate of £530 million.

That kind of wealth is hard to square with the constant claim that there is simply no money for better public services.

Because when people hear there is no money, what that often means in real life is longer waiting lists, more pressure on schools, crumbling infrastructure and households being asked to accept less.

If companies are making profits on that scale, Stormont should be asking whether they are really paying enough back. That doesn’t mean targeting small businesses or local employers already under pressure. It means looking seriously at the biggest and most profitable companies and making sure they contribute more to the public services everyone else relies on.

4) Make major polluters and high-profit sectors pay more

This is not just about wealth. It is also about public cost.

When companies make huge profits while the public is left dealing with environmental damage or failing infrastructure, the public ends up paying twice; once through underfunded services, and again through the cost of putting things right.

Making major polluters pay more would not only raise money to repair damage and strengthen public infrastructure. It would also create a stronger incentive for companies to reduce pollution in the first place, lowering long-term costs for the public and reducing harm to Northern Ireland’s precious environment.

Take Moy Park. The Irish News reported that its parent group paid a dividend of £124.5 million in 2025 after turnover exceeded £2 billion and profits rose sharply.

For most people, that raises a pretty obvious question: if companies can afford payouts on that scale, why are ordinary people the ones always being told they have to accept underfunded services and crumbling infrastructure?

Stormont may not be able to introduce every kind of new tax overnight. But that does not mean it should do nothing. It should be looking at how major polluters and highly profitable sectors can be made to contribute more; whether through rates reform, targeted levies or other ways of raising money to repair damage and invest in the infrastructure we all rely on.

Because the public should not be left carrying all the cost while big business walks away with the profit.

Stormont has choices

Stormont wants people to believe there is no alternative to underfunded public services.

But there is.

It can keep protecting wealth at the top and handing reliefs to big business. Or it can choose a fairer approach; one that asks more of those most able to pay and uses that money to fund the services people rely on.

If you agree, join Act Now and take action for fairer taxation and properly funded public services in Northern Ireland.