The Dublin Revenue Office Shambles
dublin |
worker & community struggles and protests |
news report 
Monday March 27, 2006 21:19
by Starstruck - Grassroots Dissent
Workers left to wait outside in line for money earned
The Revenue Office off O'Connell Street is a glaring example of how the State treats its workers.
We toil long and hard for undervalued wages and all we ask in return is that we be paid on time and in full for the services rendered.
Often,tax is unnecessarily deducted form ones pay packet,for varying reasons,including emergency tax,incorrect bracketing etc.
One would imagine that such mistakes would be easy to report and a quick resolution to the matter be had.
That isnt,for many people the case.
At the Tax Office today,at 3.30pm,there stood a queue of up to 50 people outside in the pouring rain and biting cold,myself among them.
The reason?
The office has a total of 45 staff who deal with the public face to face and in a city of 1.5 Million people,that simply isnt sufficient.
The Office shuts daily at 4pm and is not open at weekends,thus making it even more difficult for many workers to access the facilities there,not everyone has an accountant or tax consultant to take care of these matters.
As the queue moved slowly along I spoke to some of those getting soaked around me,most of whom were "non-nationals".One man said that since he had arrived in Ireland from India almost a year ago,he had been emergency taxed and has been visiting the Revenue office for the last three months,waiting for that tax to be refundedHe told me that many of his co-workers are still being incorrectly taxed on their wages and have not received any assistance from either their employers or the revenue services to rectify their problem.
For many,these refunds are incredibly important,particularly those in low-paid work,as the effects of incorrect taxation and delays in correcting it can be crippling on their standards of living.
Once inside I was greeted by the sight of a giant snake-like queue of up to 100 people.Many were in work clothes and looked exhausted,clearly after a hard days toil.The queue moved at a snails pace,with the employees of the office clearly doing their best to move things along as quickly as possible.
Another man told me of his confusion at which office he had to go to in relation to his application for construction tax credits and he added that he had been sent to and from various governm,ent offices and then back again to the Revenue with no progress whatsoever.He also stated that,since arriving in Ireland,he had found their to be a distinct lack of information on how and where to go in relation to employment issues and workers rights.
After over an hour of standing and queuing I finally reached the desk,and after taking care of getting back the money the State had robbed me of unjustly,I inquired as to how the workers in the Office felt with regard to the resources they had at their disposal.
One said it was "pathetic" and that they needed three times the employee numbers and had petitioned the Department several times for extra resources to no avail.
The situation is disgraceful.Workers pay tax in order to fund public services and then when they are in need of assistance from these services,this is all the money the Government is willing to invest in giving that something back.
We toil daily,daily,daily,our employers take up our time and energy and all we ask in return is fair remuneration.All these offices which deal with worker's tax and revenue issues are underfunded ,inefficint,underresourced and incessantly overcrowded with massive queues,unsociable opening hours and discrimination to look forward to.
Allegedly there will be a revamp in August of the building.As I left the office at 5pm Iand glared upwards at the Spire,the states pride and glory,I couldnt hellp wondering if the millions wasted on it were hidden inside....