Are you going to pay the household charge? [Part 1]

melekalikimaka wrote: »

do you think you pay enough... or do you think you dont want to pay more... maybe thats what you should ask yourself

Ghandee wrote: »

Did you see the anger vented by the public on RTE (a state broadcasting organisation) on the late late show last night?

dxhound2005 wrote: »

And how very convenient that this allows you to keep €100 in your own pocket and away from the bankers. A lot of people have suddenly become very principled. But I put you and most of them in the same category as any other tax defaulter. Some of them have got a rude awakening over the last few years including getting some interesting publicity. €128 million collected in the last quarter of 2011 for instance including very large fines and penalties.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0314/1224313270436.html

Some more of these millionaire types will chance their arm with this tax no doubt. I hope the Revenue audit teams can single them out for early attention.

Dear Minister,

As I write, the clock is running down. As of the latest figures available this morning, some 328 thousand households have registered to pay the Household Charge, out of a total of 1.6 million, give or take. And there is but a week to go before that clock runs out.
The bare fact that four out of five have not yet registered cannot be entirely attributed to a newly acquired culture of protest among the Irish people, nor can it be put down to a concerted, cohesive and structured decision en masse, not to register to a property owner's database, simply because, while many have exercised their right to protest, and certain groups (such as UNITE, with almost sixty thousand members) have exhorted a policy of non compliance, the premise of this tax, in its current form, is both inequitable, and disproportionate.

But that's only part of the problem. Many taxes could be considered unfair in an overall context, but they are still paid.

The primary reason behind the failure of the Household Charge to engage the public's acceptance and compliance rests with you and your department. When, (actually before!) my Motor Tax falls due, I get a letter in the door, and have a choice of payment options. I have six different means by which I can pay the much maligned TV license. Utility bills, whether settled by direct debit or not, are helpfully flagged, either by post or online, well in advance of when payment is required.

But then, we all know what these taxes and charges are, and what our obligations are in relation to them.

Many people are hitherto uncertain as to what the Household Charge is for. Some are concerned that the revenue thereof will disappear into the black hole of our national debt. The Government has oft trumpeted that the Household Charge is ring-fenced for Local Authority services, however, even allowing for 100% take-up amounting to €160m, some €170m has been cut from local services to date-a net loss of €10m to said services. I don't know of anyone, and I have asked many, who have received as much as an information leaflet in the door, in relation to the Charge. Contrast that with any election, where hapless citizens would do well to see the carpet in their hallway, owing to the generous covering of communiques courtesy of would-be public representatives.

In a week where the Mahon Tribunal report highlighted corruption at the highest level in Ireland, where Ministers of the State made concerted efforts to undermine investigations into same, where yet another former Taoiseach was disgraced, Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show, somewhat inexplicably, decided to concentrate on this issue. And was aided in his efforts by Fergus O'Dowd, who, while I'm sure is a nice man, was utterly out of his depth, visibly nervous, unable to justify the Government's position, or apply any clarity of context to the populism espoused by Ming Flanagan. If anyone was to be wheeled out on the nation's supposed flagship chat show, it should have been your good self.
I do have some sympathy for you. You and your colleagues in Government have been saddled, among many other things, with a bloated and creaking Local Government system with too many chiefs and not enough Indians, and with the task of reforming a tax base which was dependent utterly on revenue generated from the phenomenon of us all selling houses to each other, and building them, ad infinitum. With the very real necessity of balancing the books.

I have no objection to a fair and equitable property based taxation system and I suspect many of the 80% who have yet to pay do not either. In many other jurisdictions, it is the exception rather than the norm. But, all these other administrations long ago recognised that any attempt to generate income based on the roof over one's head needs to be, firstly, based not only on the value of the home, but the ability to pay of the occupants therein, secondly, needs to be ringfenced, beyond all measure of doubt, for the local services that we all require, and thirdly, applied in a flexible and transparent manner.

Unfortunately for you and your department, I can foresee the decisions and pronouncements we have witnessed from you and your colleagues to date forming the basis of case studies in future into how not to implement taxation reform, and how not to maximise return from the citizens, be that return quantifiable in terms of compliance, or less so in terms of goodwill and engagement.
It is time to take stock, Minister. Time to put your hands up and admit that you got it wrong, and will come back to us next year with a better and fairer option.
Yours,

Ryan Murphy

Bullseye1 wrote: »

If you are working Monday to Friday and John next door works Wednesday to Sunday you think he should earn more? They should given the same terms and conditions. John should not get paid more.

alastair wrote: »

Any word on how the HUGE bash at the national stadium is going?