Post the Deadline: FAQ on the Household Charge

home title Posted by on Apr 11th, 2012 home title

Post the Deadline: Your Household Tax Questions Answered

Post Registration Deadline FAQ

 

Based on figures from the 2011 census and verified by Prof. Rob Kitchin at the Department of Geography, NUI Maynooth, 1.45m families were due to register 1.8 million houses. The government claim over 900k houses registered, but in fact over a third of these were registered by landlords etc registering multiple properties. Only 700k people have registered, with over 750k (52%) families boycotting (more info).  Even if this figure slips a little, it’s clear that mass non-registration is a fact.
There is a 10% late charge for the first 6 months, a 20% late charge for the second 6 months and a 30% late charge after that. There is also 1% interest per month. This means a penalty of €42 in a year.
Content goes hereYes. This could come into play if you want to sell your house. But remember, if they manage to impose this tax and the property and water taxes due to follow, you will be paying more than €1000 annually by 2014.
The household tax legislation gives them the legal right to consult databases held by utility companies such as the ESB. But the fact that someone is the bill payer doesn’t prove that s/he is the owner.
There is a fine of up to €2,500 for non-registration. But this is not automatic – you would have to be taken to court, and the court would have to find against you. Because there are so many not registered, they can only take a fraction to court.
No, not unless the government changes the law. And even then only if you are taken to court and the court finds against you.
No one will go to court alone. We are not going to defeat this tax through the courts, but we will use court cases to challenge any aspect of the legislation that we can, with the objective of clogging up the court system. So when the first cases are taken they will be vigorously defended and accompanied by mass protests. A number of solicitors have already volunteered to help the Campaign, and we will welcome any others that wish to do so. Any successful legal challenges will make the government re-think their strategy. But they can change the law so we know that any legal victory will only be temporary and it is the power of protest that will force abolition of the tax. As things develop, if we find that we are making the same legal case in all courts, it may not be necessary to have solicitors at every case. Campaign volunteers will be briefed on the legal points and accompany those summonsed to court. Every court case will be accompanied by large protests.
If services are cut, it will be a direct result of government cuts to local authorities. Attempts to cut local services will have to be resisted through local campaigns.

Here we include the original, fuller FAQ:

Download & Print the FAQ

1. What is the Household tax?

The household tax is a new tax that every home owner in the country is to be charged, the Fine Gael and Labour government is imposing a blanket ‘Household Tax’ that will affect everyone the same. From January 2012 you will be asked to pay €100 a year just to live in your own home. This is an unjust tax because a millionaire and a low-paid worker both pay the same charge. €100 may mean nothing to Tony O’Reilly – but it will cause real hardship to people who can barely pay their mortgages. You will be required to register online to make your payment to the government.

2. But isn’t it going to be replaced by a property tax which will be based on the value of the house and will be fairer and more progressive?

It’s true that in response to criticisms of the flat nature of the household tax, the government have announced their intention to bring forward the introduction of the full property tax – probably to 2013. But this tax will be neither ‘fair’ nor ‘progressive’.

The average house can expect to pay about €800 per year – plus another €500 in water taxes from 2014. The 2009 Commission on Taxation suggested that houses valued between €150,000 and €300,000 should be levied with a property tax of €563. John Fitzgerald of the Economic and Social Research Institute (the government’s semi-official economic think-tank) has said that the new taxes should be as high as €1300 per annum on the average household. There’s not much ‘fair’ about that when we’ve already been hit with pay cuts, job losses, Universal Social Charge, VAT increases etc.

A lot of nonsense has been written about the ‘progressive’ nature of such a property tax and the need to ‘expand the tax base’. Stephen Collins in the Irish Times claimed that “extra taxes should not be imposed on work but on fixed assets like property”. But as ordinary workers, we only have one source of income – that which we get from our work. So if we have to pay a property tax we have to pay it out of the wages we earn. Unlike the wealthy sections of society we don’t have alternative sources of income such as dividends, rent etc

What is proposed is not a property tax in the real sense – one which would be levied on the wealth and assets held by the wealthiest sections of society. A real property tax would be geared at making sure that those who own real wealth would be forced to pay more taxes. Instead what is proposed is simply a home tax which if allowed to be implemented will force those of us on low and middle incomes to pay more while continuing to let the wealthy off scot free.

The government intend to use the household tax registration process to build up the database they need to introduce the property tax and the water tax. If we register we will be making it easier for them to introduce these higher taxes.

3. Isn’t a property tax progressive?

The household tax is not a traditional property tax. We are in favour of taxing wealth not supporting a flat tax that will mean Bono pays the same every year for his mansion in Killiney as a former council tenant living in a working class estate. This tax is no better than Thatcher’s poll tax, it is not fair and does not make economic sense to be taking yet more money from ordinary people that spend their income. It will increase over time and just like the bin charges it will soon apply to every house across the country.

4. How can I resist?

In order to pay this tax, the government expects everyone to go online and register to pay it. The simple way of resisting the tax is to refuse to register and refuse to pay. If everyone together refuses to register and pay, the government will find it almost impossible to impose this tax on us.

5. What are the possible consequences if I don’t register?

The legislation allows for a fine of up to €2,500 for failing to register by 31st March. But this is not an automatic fine. Under the legislation people who don’t register have to be brought to court and have a case proved against them that they did not register.

This is where the importance of building a mass campaign comes in. The government wants 1.8 million households to register by the end of March. But imagine the situation if a million plus households do not register. It would be absolutely impossible for them to take a million people to court.

And just as we did during the campaign against water charges in Dublin in the 1990s, the campaign will organise legal representation for anyone who is taken to court. By challenging each case, we can ensure that the system becomes completely clogged up. As also happened during the campaign against water charges, if someone in an area is taken to court we can organise to ensure that hundreds of fellow non-payers turn up to support them.

6. I’ve heard that they are going to deduct fines for not registering – or the tax itself – from people’s wages or social welfare

Under current legislation this is not possible. To allow the government to do this would require a change in the law. Again if we build a mass campaign and if a million households are collectively saying to the government ‘your tax is unacceptable to us’ they are much less likely to try to bring forward such legislation. As it develops, the Campaign will build links with trade unions and will be calling on trade unionists to boycott any work that would assist the government in organising deductions.

7. I don’t want to register but I’m still worried that I might end up with a big fine. What if I don’t register but loads of people do? Those of us who haven’t registered will be left vulnerable.

According to the legislation, nobody has to register until the end of March. Because of the threats some people may be considering registering despite not wanting to. But our advice is – don’t do it yet.

Why not wait until St Patrick’s Day (two weeks before the registration deadline) and see how the Campaign goes. At that time you will hopefully see that we have enough non-payers to defeat the Government and to stop them from robbing you and your household.

In the meantime it’s important that as well as not registering yourself you do all that you can to convince your friends, neighbours, family members, workmates etc not to register either. Everybody has a part to play in convincing others to resist this tax. Don’t just leave it to others but get involved and do your own bit.

8. But haven’t loads of people registered already.

In fact no. Despite attempts at media spin regarding the numbers who have registered less than 30,000 people have registered just under 2 weeks into the year (as of Thurs. 13th). To put that figure into context: the government want 1.8 million households to register by 31st March (1.6 million that are expected to pay and 200,000 that have to register to claim a waiver) – that would require 150,000 households to register every week. 30,000 in just under 2 weeks is a long way short of that. In fact only 1.7% of those expected to register have done so. That makes a non-registration rate of 98.3%.

9. Isn’t there a danger I’ll end up with a big debt, as happened to some people in Dublin after the bin tax campaign?

This campaign, unlike the bin charges, is a nationwide campaign that will be easier to fight if we can get our communities organised to resist. Ultimately the bin tax campaign lost because not enough people joined the non-payment campaign. The challenge is to build a campaign that has mass involvement.

It still remains the case that anyone who refused to pay for bin charges during the bin charges campaign will pay significantly less than those that chose to pay from the beginning. We know from past experience that only mass non payment and industrial action by workers who lost their jobs through the privatisation of waste collection could have forced the government to back down.

We can however beat the Household Tax if we all join together in a mass non-payment campaign, build membership of the campaign through the €5 membership fee and get onto the streets in large numbers. Over the coming months we will build the campaign across the country. Already there have been meetings of hundreds and we are well on the way to constructing a solid nationwide campaign. These charges can be defeated by mass popular resistance. In 1990, huge numbers protested against the ‘poll tax’ in Britain and Maggie Thatcher was driven out of office. Resistance worked.

In the 1990s, the Irish government was forced to withdraw water charges from domestic users because of a boycott campaign. Resistance worked again.

10. Who is organising the campaign?

The campaign was initiated by political organisations from across the left, trade unionists, representatives of residents’ associations and ordinary people willing to take a stand and say Enough is Enough.

The objective is to build local campaigns in every area which will be run by the members and which will then send delegates to the Dublin and national steering committees. The strength of the campaign will be the involvement of ordinary people so please do get involved and help to get our communities organised.

11. What can I do to help?

The strength of the campaign is in mass participation so we need everyone to get involved to whatever extent you can.

First don’t register.

Help Out

Put a ‘We’re Not Paying’ poster in your window and a car sticker on your car. If people see posters and stickers up around the place, it helps create awareness of the campaign, encourages others not to pay and gives confidence to those who may feel intimidated into paying.

Take some Campaign newsletters, posters and car stickers to give to your neighbours, friends, workmates, family members etc. Do your bit to convince others to be part of the campaign.

Help out with your local campaign group when we go out to canvass your area. Attend your local activists’ meetings to help plan the campaign locally.

If there hasn’t been a local meeting in your area, help to organise one. The campaign can provide people to help with this and provide speakers etc if necessary. Advertise it well with posters in local shops and door to door leafleting.

Put a resolution to your residents’ association or trade union meeting to support the campaign of non-payment and organise together.

Become a member of the Campaign – the €5 membership fee will go towards producing Campaign materials such as newsletters, posters, car stickers etc and also to build up a legal defence fund.

12. Isn’t the money raised going to improve our local services?

Not one cent from the household tax will be used to improve local council services. Not one cent will be used to improve services such as health and education. The money will be used to bail out the bankers and the speculators. By taking money out of the pockets of ordinary people they will depress demand for goods and services and make the crisis worse, not better.

Central government funding for local councils has been cut. The local Council is being further starved of funds and instead the money that used to pay for services such as lighting, housing, cleansing etc. is going to bail out private bank speculation.

For three years now Fianna Fail, The Green Party, Fine Gael and Labour have been making us foot the bill for the crimes of bankers and speculators. This is a great opportunity to strike back and start the job of reversing the tide. This is our chance to take a stand and show our opposition to austerity policies. Let’s make sure we use it!

13. €100 isn’t that much really, why should I have the stress of this debt around my neck?

Do not be fooled. The government has every intention of increasing this tax on an annual or bi annual basis. Remember the figures – The average house can expect to pay about €800 per year – plus another €500 in water taxes from 2014. The 2009 Commission on Taxation suggested that houses valued between €150,000 and €300,000 should be levied with a property tax of €563. John Fitzgerald of the Economic and Social Research Institute (the government’s semi-official economic think-tank) has said that the new taxes should be as high as €1300 per annum on the average household.

If you do not resist this charge now then you will be paying up to thousands every year. The government can increase this charge anytime they like. We must defeat this now at registration stage or you will soon be paying huge volumes of extra tax for absolutely nothing new in return.

There are vast amounts of wealth in this country, the top 1% have over €100 billion tucked away. 33,000 millionaires own wealth of €121 billion, the 300 richest people are reported to be worth close to €50 billion.

A new wealth or asset tax on those that can afford to pay would generate far more money than this new household tax, this is money that otherwise would not be used in our society. We could employ thousands on the dole overnight if the political will was there. This is the type of property/wealth tax we should strive to introduce. If you pay, it will be €100 now and thousands later. Resist now or pay later!

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