South Tipperary County Council is being urged to consider abolishing commercial rates for hard hit business.
The issue was hotly debated at this week's meeting of the local authority which also heard that such a move would leave the council with a serious cash shortfall.
Commercial rates in South Tipperary account for 12% of the County Council's income each year and amounts to €17 million across all of its local authorities.
At this week's council meeting Cashel based Independent Tom Wood called for the abolition of rates as he feels the introduction of the local property tax has effectively led to double taxation as small and medium enterprise owners are also home owners.
This view was backed by Councillor Sylvia Cooney-Sheehan who claimed she was paying both levies on her business which she operates from her home in Carrick.
Michael Murphy called for the harmonisation of rates following the merging of Tipperary's local authorities next year to be used as an opportunity to lower rates using the savings accrued from the merger.
However others urged caution – stating that abolishing commercial rates would lead to a significant loss of income for the local authority.
