BY Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig: A MEETING of local residents was held in Ionad Naomh Padraig Gaoth Dobhair last Wednesday resolved to organise a broad based campaign of opposition to the Household Tax and to initiate a boycott and mass non-payment of the tax.
The new Household Tax announced this week by Environment Minister Phil Hogan will see the introduction of an annual tax of €100 on households from January 2012 regardless of income. The tax is being imposed as part of the surrender pact with the EU/IMF and it has already been agreed that this initial €100 tax will increase in 2013.
Alongside this household tax the coalition government is determined to impose a domestic water tax within the next two years. As a result households could face annual local taxes in excess of €500.
The meeting heard from residents who are increasingly angry at being targeted yet again for additional taxes to bail out the banks. A local spokesperson commented after the meeting:
“This is just the beginning of a campaign of opposition to yet another unjust tax being imposed on already hard pressed households. People simply cannot afford to pay, nor should they be made pay for the greed of bankers and the failures of the political system to act in the interests of the people. This unjust tax will see low income households pay the same rate as those on very high incomes. It is akin to the hated Poll Tax introduced by Margaret Thatcher in Britain in the late 1980s, in which all households regardless of income paid the same rate of local tax. Opposition to the Poll Tax in Britain ultimately led to Thatcher’s welcome demise in 1990.”
“This is a community based campaign that will take opposition on to the streets with pickets, demonstrations, public meetings, marches, mass leafleting and postering. A central element of the campaign will be the organisation of a mass non-payment campaign. A campaign of mass non-payment and boycott will make this tax unworkable and unenforceable. This government must hear the message loud and clear – we cannot and we will not pay for the greed of bankers. A series of local meetings will be organised over coming weeks and we encourage everyone in the community to attend.