Nothing inevitable about paying property tax

national | bin tax / household tax / water tax | press release Monday May 27, 2013 20:00 by Turing - Campaign Against Home & Water Taxes ( CAHWT )

The CAHWT today responded to a claim by Revenue spokesperson, Vivienne Dempsey, that payment of the property tax is "inevitable".

CAHWT spokesperson, Ruth Coppinger, said : "There is nothing inevitable about paying the property tax. People can and will choose to take part in a boycott as a way of exerting political pressure on the government. Hundreds of thousands are likely to take part in an organised boycott of this unjust bondholder tax. Many have simply decided they have no more to give."

"This is the week in which Ireland has been exposed as a global tax haven for the richest corporations on the planet and where Oxfam estimates that €700 billion could be stashed away in Irish accounts to avoid tax elsewhere."

"If the government decides to forcibly deduct this from wages and welfare, they will face a huge political backlash, in particular, Labour who made pre-election pledges against home taxes. We call on trade unions to also take a stand against deduction of this from their members, some of whom would be liable for a full year's property tax equivalent to a week's wage."

The Campaign also stated that 700,000 have still not registered as there are 1.8 million liable for the tax, rather than the 1.66 million claimed by Revenue. This is based on almost two million housing units in the state in Census 2011.

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