There has been a lot of controversy in Ireland recently about the introduction of
an annual household charge. It may prove quite difficult for the government to enforce collection of the tax because of the lack of a proper register. In addition, many high profile individuals have grabbed attention by declaring publicly that they have no intention of paying the charge because they feel it is inherently unjust and they have effectively challenge the authorities to pursue them for payment. It seems that this is the first instance where the Irish people are reacting to cutbacks in a manner more typical of the Greeks
In this environment I am almost embarrassed to admit that I have registered for the tax and made arrangement to have it automatically deducted from my bank account. It is not that I am simply afraid if getting into trouble. While, I tend to agree with the people that a flat charge for every household is inherently unfair the reality is that if the charge was adjusted based upon means I would probably end up paying more than the €100 flat rate. It seems to me that it would be weird for me to refuse to pay the tax on the basis that justice would demand that I pay a higher charge.
I wonder did we not have local services before or were they working for free? Why €100? And why flat? Surely services must be more expensive and wages higher in Dublin. I'm willing to make a bet that next year it is going to increase. And next year, and the year after.
ReplyDeleteI will not register.
@Stas, I agree that the flat tax is not sensible (apart from making it simpler to administer), but the tax take would be much lower if people were allowed to only pay taxes that hey though made sense.
ReplyDelete