Clare Government TDs defend household charge

THE announcement of a €100 household charge hasn’t been very popular but Clare’s Government TDs are insisting it is necessary.

Clare’s sole opposition TD Timmy Dooley was critical of the charge on Wednesday, claiming it would have a disproportionate effect on the less well off.
“I think there was no necessity to rush into it. It takes no account of a household’s income. It will affect people who have a low income or no income and people are also facing water charges,” he commented.
He said the Government have already raised revenue by dipping into people’s pension funds. Mr Dooley also said that while money will have to be raised, taxation should take account of people’s ability to pay. “The bottom line is that we have to raise taxes but it has to be done in a fair and equitable manner. With this, those who can afford to pay will be hit in the same way as elderly people or large families with very little income. In my view, it is inequitable and it will hit those on the lowest incomes and hit them in a disproportionate manner.”
However, his view got short shrift from Labour TD Michael McNamara who said Mr Dooley’s party signed up to the tax in the first place. “Timmy knows that the Government he was a part of signed up to the introduction of this tax.”
He said that to base it on earnings would turn it into another income tax, while he said that eventually, it will be up to local authorities to determine how it is levied.
Mr McNamara said that while the ‘one size fits all’ dimension of the current measure may have its shortcomings, it will be adjusted. “It is a transition measure until a proper property tax is introduced, similar to that in every other state in Western Europe.”
He claimed that Fianna Fáil denunciations of the household charge ring hollow in the same way previous administrations the party led “completely decimated the tax base of this country”.
Fine Gael’s Pat Breen also said the Government had no choice but to introduce the household charge, following the deal struck for last year’s bailout. “Given the choice, the Government would have preferred not to introduce this charge, however, the terms of the EU/IMF bailout deal committed Ireland to the introduction of a property tax in 2012. The introduction of this charge is an interim measure for two years only until proposals for a full property tax, which will take personal circumstances into account is put in place.”
He said the Government have set the charge as low as possible and he reiterated Mr McNamara’s claim that such taxes are very common in other countries. “We have kept the charge as low as we could at €2 per week in order to make it as affordable as possible. Administration costs will also be kept to a minimum and people will be able to pay quarterly to help ease their burden.
“We are one of the last countries in the western world to introduce such a charge. If we want to continue to have the level of local services we expect, such as fire and emergency services, then those services have to be funded and unfortunately, given the economic circumstances and the EU/IMF deal we were left with no choice but to introduce this interim charge.”