A chara, – Here we go again, so-called socialists threatening to go to jail rather than pay charges for local authority services. Granted that the charges are inequitable, with the rich man in his castle paying exactly the same as the poor man at his gate, but this is not and never has been a legitimate left-wing cause.
Get a grip lads and lassies, there are very sick people on lengthy hospital waiting lists, there are thousands of families homeless or threatened with homelessness, there are special needs children without provision for their special needs, there are full-time carers at the end of their tethers for lack of facilities for their loved ones. If I were going to jail again it wouldn’t be for a little less euro in my own pocket, but for the thousands out there with real, immediate and desperate needs. – Is mise,
Sir, – An Taoiseach’s claim (Dáil report, December 15th) that “fire services and libraries and street cleaning [have all been] funded by the exchequer till now”, and that “it’s necessary that citizens understand that they can make a contribution of €2 [a week] for these services” (through the €100 household tax) is disingenuous, if not insulting.
He implies that the exchequer is not being contributed to by the aforementioned “citizens”.
It may be technically true that a certain percentage of our public services are being financed (and hereafter fiscally administered to some extent) by Germany and Co Ltd; but surely some consideration must be given to the fact that as we citizens of Ireland will be repaying the administrators in full, with interest, for quite some time, we are (in some measure), already contributing to the cost of public services. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The household charge (property tax) has been passed into law by a democratically elected government, in compliance with the Constitution.
Should the group of predominately left-wing opposition TDs carry out their decision not to pay this charge, then they will be guilty of tax evasion. Given their salary levels, they can afford to pay it. As a result, they are going to have a credibility problem should they wish to criticise, or legislate to deal with, other forms of tax evasion and tax avoidance.
While the household charge is a requirement of the IMF/EU bailout, there is also a need to widen the tax base in this area. Surely then, would this group of TDs not serve the people who elected them better by bringing forward constructive proposals to assist those who will genuinely have problems paying the charge? – Yours, etc,
A chara, – By instituting the new household charge/property tax, Fine Gael as a political party has (to paraphrase its great hero Michael Collins) signed its own death warrant. – Is mise,
Sir, – I find the imposition of a €10 charge for making a cash payment most unusual and perhaps illegal.
A debt is being levied by Government on most householders. Euros are the legal tender of this country. A debt can be extinguished by using legal tender.
Am I missing some point? – Yours, etc,