revenue issues threat to every homeowner in the country.

Wibbs wrote: »

Ah yes the deferral. So they get into even more debt, because lets face it if they're struggling today, chances are high they'll be struggling the next year and the next. Pretty soon they'll be looking down the barrel of many thousands extra(plus interest) in debt on top of their existing debts. A lump sum they'll be unlikely to gather, unless they god forbid get a bank loan to cover. A lump sum that keeps growing annually.

You could well get a situation where a family are paying off a mortgage (which will cost them at least double what they borrowed anyway), if they have to defer payments on that, then add that to the moneys required at the back end. If they've been reduced to interest only, they're renting over the odds for "their" house. So They could end up paying a fortune over the lifetime of a mortgage only to be left with a home they paid(well over the odds*) for, that's worth X minus the many thousands of euro in referral moneys. Nice. Talk about being spitroasted. And that's before we take the stamp duty they might have paid in the first place. Or other taxes coming down the line. For many people in this nation it will simply be too much for them. I can think of quite the number. I honestly can and I would be concerned for them and their families and our society at large.

You know as well as I do, that they're going to raise the money somehow. For me, I'd prefer if they did it this way than through the old reliables such as raising income tax again or cutting social welfare rates. Rather than shaft the same people over and over, it drags more people into the tax net that haven't been pulling their weight to date, like those living off property and investments. Sure we all get hit with it too, but at least those guys have to start paying as well (and become way more visible to the Revenue). It's not surprising that its landlords who're they ones challenging it in court.

I like the idea of a property tax in that goes some way to reforming a taxation system that was an absolute recipe for disaster (as we found out). Instead of relying heavily on transactional or wage taxes, which can vary wildly between boom and bust, this at least provides some steady revenue that won't change that much between good times and bad.

And at least it provides some alternatives for those struggling to pay, such as staggering payments or opting to defer it. Yep you get hit with interest, but at least you can put it off, rather than see your take home pay cut by an income tax hike or your dole cut, which you can't defer.