Workers Party Councillor Ted Tynan has said that the Revenue Commissioners’ imminent deduction of unpaid Household Charges was nothing less than pure theft from the pay-packets of workers and the welfare payments of honest citizens.
Cllr. Tynan said that the circulation of letters of intent to thousands of homes in the last few days had caused anguish and anger and many people already struggling to make ends meet now find their meagre incomes are about to be raided.
He pointed out that when the Household Charge was introduced originally it had nothing to do with Revenue and was supposed to be about funding local government, recent legislation converted unpaid charges into a portion of Property Tax purely to give Revenue the power to deduct it directly from pay or welfare.
“This is the lowest of the many disgusting decisions taken by the present government. It is utterly reprehensible. It is theft by any other name. I think the best way householders can respond to this larceny is to join the protests against the installation of water meters because converting water charges to a tax is likely to be the coalition’s next nasty step. If governments resort to coercion to enforce an injustice then there can only be one answer and that is mass organised resistance”, said Cllr. Tynan.