You know, dating back to a time before his party discovered relative social liberalism - I did say relative, at least in comparison to Fianna Fail - back around the time of Fitzgerald.
He is now threatening councils, who do not pull in the charge in sufficient quantities, with dire consequences in terms of cutbacks in services. Which means some Donegal councils will be hit very hard indeed, with reported rates of only 25% compliance.
On the other hand the part of Dublin where I live has, according to yesterday's Irish Times, the third-highest rate of compliance after Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and Dublin City Council. All areas with a high proportion of PAYE workers, used to being fleeced.
[Just to note, the councillors of Dublin City Counicl, led by FF-er of the time, and "Gaeilge agus Failte" solicitor, Tom Brabazon, decreed English language names would be banned from future buildings and roads in the capital in one council brainstorming session. Presumably one of the "essential services" we are paying them generously for?]
What a waste of money, and how much do we pay these idiots? You would have to wonder how much waste goes on in our local authorities. What is our money spent on, and how many up-their-own-arse councillors we actually need. Should we willingly volunteer to hand over another chunk of our depleted wages, after the myriad taxes we pay already, without any promise of reform in these areas?
It's a strange one. I can see the point of a property tax in widening the tax base if implemented properly - as a reader pointed out recently - but I just don't trust our Powers That Be to do that.
Even now, they are talking about using Revenue to deduct "at source". And what class of taxpayer currently pays taxes deducted at source? Why, the PAYE sector. And to be honest, I think that sector is bled dry enough as it is.
Sure, if the tax was administered properly, with a corresponding reduction in PAYE for instance, there might be some merit in it. But you just know it is going to be an other tax on top of everything else, that will do little to restore any balance in the Irish tax system.
And if the authorities are already hinting at deducting "at source" what do they mean exactly?
Can we expect the self-employed and businessmen/women to keep on using creative accountants - and there's an oxymoron - to evade, or at least minimise, liability should that occur...while the PAYE sector continues to carry the country - waste and all - with its source contributions?
It's a funny place indeed where the socialists are among the most trenchant opposition to a property tax, but Ireland is a funny place. Not "ha ha" funny, but weird funny.
It's also a funny place where the authorities are threatening to "go after" those who do not pay.
How many bankers, developers and speculators - who bankrupted the country - have been pursued by the State with the same vigour?
I can see a "no" coming up in the next referendum, if only to give the government a bloody nose. And an Ireland without ECB bailout funds will be even funnier.
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7 comments:
GM, Fine Gael are again busy copying
the cnversative party. This will ensure that parts of the city with money will get the services will get them and sod the rest. Anyone, hear from Gilmore???.. more disturbing I see that 64% of schools plan to drop such useless subjects as:
accounting, chemistry, physics and economics. All due ti education cut backs. Glas to see Irish is not been cut.
What a surprise John. The most intrinsically useless subject on the curriculum too. And all that recent talk about increasing standards of education in the sciences?
'Tis backwards we're going, begob.
Gruppenführer Phil and his bunch of Quango Hench Men and Women are at war with the population of the Republic. Slavering at the prospect of another wad of cash to be bled out of low and middle income workers.
Isn't it perplexing when you consider GM that Irish political parties revert to type sooner rather than later. FF are gangsters, FG are bullies and not adverse to a bit of intimadation and harassment - for your own good mind, LOL - Labour, pointless and bizarrely elitist, SF the original cute hoors. All at play at the swampy playground of the Chicago School, at the behest of a vacuous population. A large proportion of whom would gladly jump off a cliff if told to by a man (or woman - it is Ireland) in a shirt and tie on television. LOL where else but in Ireland, would you get mass reverse altruistic behaviour, on such an important moralistic issue as an unfair property tax? Waiting for the majority to collapse the damn thing while secretly supporting it yourself. Sickening. You can take the man (or woman) out of the BOG but not the BOG out of the man (or woman). Emm, society gets the Government it deserves.
It all starts with the individual. Ireland is the MOST corrupt nation on the planet. Why? Because there is a greater proportion of egotistical, materialistic, sleveen weasels whom would rather destroy not only their own future but that of the generations to come, to sadisfy their lust to save face and flaunt their gaudy thick Irish stupidity in a new flash car. Sickening BOG.
Oh for the few sane left on the Island, please read and have a good laugh:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/phil-hogan-refuses-to-pay-4k-service-charges-on-his-portugal-holiday-penthouse-3067684.html
Individual standards are pretty low here, D. Michael Lowry is oft used as an example. He's shown to be a shyster and he gets even more votes next time round. Sure they know Haughey was corrupt for years and still voted him in. And B-B-Bertie was corru... sorry, untruthful and they loved him. One of them, in fact.
And what does that say...
BTW, that Phil Hogan not paying his service charge tax on his holiday penthouse in Portugal was reported as a hoax on RTE's Morning Ireland. It is true, apparently.
What other country can it be so diffucult to distinguish April Fools stories from reality?
See todays Irish Examiner
"Environment Minister Phil Hogan granted disgraced TD Michael Lowry an exclusive meeting and access to department officials just days after the damning findings of the Moriarty Tribunal were published."
Nice to see Fine Gael slipping nicely into the shoes of Finna Fail. Just heard the boss of Paypal Ireland say that most of the new 1,000 jobs will have to be recruited outside Ireland as Irish do not have the necessary foreign language skills!!! how dare she, WE HAVE OUR IRISH LANGUAGE. By the way the standard of German exam material on leaving cert, is very low.
Anonymous said...
Laim Smullen
"Even now, they are talking about using Revenue to deduct "at source". And what class of taxpayer currently pays taxes deducted at source? Why, the PAYE sector. And to be honest, I think that sector is bled dry enough as it is."
perhaps instead of income tax
"self declaration" the self
employed business people will be charged the value of their
property assets such as farm land,
What it produces annally, or value of thier mansion/haciendas as a
means of means of combating
income tax evasion.
The governement is doing this because income tax evasion is a serious problem by the self-employed. If implemented properly it can allow furture governments room to cut paye/vat/stamp duty.
It is headed a former department
of eduction head, and an economist
Dr Donal de Buitleir who done
reports of income tax evasion in the early 90's.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/fionnan-sheahan/fionnan-sheahan-taxing-time-ahead-for-propertylevy-advisers-3054094.html
some interesting findings as
follows:
From his paper, it's clear Dr Thornhill does place a great deal of importance on the social impact of the introduction of the property tax, to address "features of the tax which might be regarded as inequitable or harsh".
I.E. property owners crying
poor mouth.
"Proposals for tax reform are potentially unpopular -- this is certainly the case for the proposals we make for a recurring property tax.
"We are concerned that the nature of the public policy making space, which includes easy media access by interest groups (and very often domination of media commentary by some of these groups), allied to the dynamics of an adversarial political system, makes it impossible to carry out far-reaching and desirable structural reform, especially where powerful interest groups perceive the reforms as adversely affecting their interests," they wrote."
It worth knowing that one
of the Self stlyed Mick Wallace
"socialists" opposing this
tax is in trouble over pension
contributions missuse from
employees of his former
building company.Imagine he was
a F.F fer or micheal Lowery.
i think its time to examine our
socialists properly.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060900/Anyone-venison-Broke-builder-Mick-Wallace-dines-restaurant-just-yards-cash-strapped-parliament.html
Erudite points Laim. Thanks for the links too.
I agree with you on principle. The thing is, I can't see a property tax being a suitable substitute for a fair tax system that has an interest in taxing those outside the PAYE sector. And many PAYE workers have mortgages/houses too. There will be some take from those who don't pay their way at the minute, through self-declaration, but others in the PAYE sector will pay even more, on top of what they pay already. I suppose I just can't see beyond that, at the minute and am sceptical about this tax being a means of transtion to a fairer system. Maybe I am wrong, and it will be?
I heard on Morning Ireland that there is some discussion of exemptions for those who paid stamp duty during the boom. Will this apply to investors who were snapping up blocks of apartments from the plans and contributed to the asset price inflation that caused the mess?
It would be a very Irish solution if they did.
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