The boycott of the Household Charge remains solid according to the Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay campaign as new figures show the numbers refusing to pay the charge have not been significantly affected by the latest warning letters.
‘It is still the case that the Household Tax is being resisted by more than 700,000 households across the state’ said spokesperson Francis McCafferty.
‘Fewer than 28,000 in total have paid since mid-July1, mostly multiple properties. Despite going for the easy target of those already registered as having a second property, the authorities have been unable to make any real progress. The boycott remains solid.’
‘Another batch of warning letters is due out very soon to a list of households cobbled together from the ESB, social welfare and Revenue records, in another trawling exercise. This will also fail to get significant numbers to pay.”
The group added that homeowners need to remain firm and refuse to be bullied into paying this unfair tax.
“They realise that if they pay the Household Tax, they are also registering for a Property Tax of hundreds of Euro next year By continuing to stand together in large numbers, we will make it impossible to pursue all 700,000 of us.’
‘Before they went on their holidays, the government decided that next years Property Tax will be collected by the Revenue Commissioners. Not only is this a vote of no confidence in the ability of the local councils to force us into paying the Household Tax, it is also a final admission that Household/Property Tax has absolutely nothing to do with funding local services.
“We will have a Property Tax which is levied and paid centrally to the Revenue in Dublin. It will form part of general taxation, like income tax or VAT. There are better and fairer ways to fund general taxation like a wealth and assets tax, but that does not appear to fit the government’s agenda of making the ordinary people of the country shoulder the costs of the bank bailout.’
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