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.
