The household tax is extremelyunpopular. In the face of thisunpopularity, the government is

trying to threaten us with fines andsanctions to make us pay up. But if we allstand together these threats can bedefeated.

According to the legislation, nobody has toregister until the end of March. Thegovernment wants 1.8 million householdsto register and pay this tax by then. Butimagine the situation if hundreds ofthousands or even a million plushouseholds do not register. We will thenbe in a really strong position. Governmentthreats would be unworkable as it wouldtake it decades to drag everyone into thecourts.

Our campaign against registration isgrowing daily. Join us. If you and yourfriends join the campaign to boycottregistration we can establish mass non-registration up and down the country andcreate a force that will successfully defygovernment threats and sanctions.

Because of the threats some people may

be considering registering despite notwanting to. But our advice is – don’t do ityet. You will see by St Patrick’s Day (twoweeks before the registration deadline)that we have enough non-payers to defeatthe government and to stop them fromrobbing you and your household.

Property TaxThe government has already signalled itsplans to fast forward the introduction of afull-blooded property tax to 2013 and tointroduce a water tax. What starts off at€100 will soon rise to €1000+. It intendsto use the household tax registrationprocess to build up the database it needsto introduce the property taxand the water tax. If weregister we will be making iteasier for the government tointroduce these higher taxes.

Remember that not one centfrom the household tax will beused to improve local councilservices. Not one cent will beused to improve services such ashealth and education. Themoney will be used to bail out the

bankers and the speculators. By takingmoney out of the pockets of ordinarypeople they will depress demand forgoods and services and make the crisisworse, not better.

For three years now Fianna Fail, the GreenParty, Fine Gael and Labour have beenmaking us foot the bill for the crimes ofbankers and speculators. This is a greatopportunity to strike back and start the jobof reversing the tide. This is our chance totake a stand and show our opposition toausterity policies. Let’s make sure we useit!

DDOONN’’TT RREEGGIISSTTEERR,, DDOONN’’TT PPAAYY!!Build Mass Non-Registration by St. Patrick’s Day!

• No to ALL home taxes – household, property, water and septic tank!• We won’t pay to bail out bankers and speculators!• If they get €100 it will rise to €1,000 – boycott from the beginning!• Don’t register – establish mass non-registration by St. Patrick’s Day!• Mass non-registration will make the government’s threats unworkable!

www.nohouseholdtax.orgContact the campaign hotline 1890 989800

Find us on Facebook – search for Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes

CAMPAIGN AGAINST HOUSEHOLD & WATER TAXES

Household Tax newsletter 17/01/2012 10:51 Page 1

The Campaign Against Householdand Water Taxes has been buildinghuge momentum over the last

number of months. Hundreds of localmeetings have been organised and tensof thousands of newsletters and leafletsdistributed to homes across the state.

Thousands of people have attendedpublic meetings to express their angerand add their voices to the growingopposition to this unjust tax. Everywherethe message is clear: people cannot andwill not pay the debts of bankers andproperty developers.

While this government, like the last one,expects ordinary people to pay theseprivate gambling debts, increasingnumbers have said ‘enough is enough’!The campaign is also being backed by agrowing number of TDs who aresupporting the call for non-payment.

Despite the threats, public opposition tothe household taxes has beenoverwhelming as evidenced bynumerous opinion polls. Two Dublin-based polls, for example, showed 85%support for non-registration (98FM) anda tiny minority of just 5% saying theywould pay the tax (Northside People).

The Campaign AgainstHousehold and Water Taxes is based onthe principle of non-payment and inorder to win, it needs to be organisedand active in every community acrossthe state.

By standing together and encouragingneighbours, friends and work colleaguesto get involved we can defeat this unjusttax. Among other things, the Campaign's€5 membership fee will be used toestablish a legal defence fund.

We need your active participation andsupport. Everyone has a part to play.Whether it is organising or attending apublic meeting in your area; putting a‘We’re Not Paying’ poster in yourwindow; distributing posters, leaflets ornewsletters to your neighbours and workcolleagues; becoming a member of thecampaign; or simply spreading the wordthat the way to defeat this tax is by notpaying, we can win.

To get involved in the campaignplease log on to the website atwww.nohouseholdtax.org or call thecampaign hotline at 1890 989800.

Make the Rich Payfor their Crisis!

Despite the economic crisis, thereis still vast wealth in Ireland.But it is in the hands of an elite

of super-rich individuals. A 2006 Bankof Ireland ‘Wealth of the Nation’report found that just 1% of thepopulation own 34% of the wealth inthe state.

In 2010, Cork IT economics lecturerTom O’Connor updated the figuresfrom this report and concluded thatthe 33,000 millionaires identified in itstill owned wealth of €121 billion.

In 2011 the Irish Times reported thatthis state has the second highestproportion of millionaire householdsin the EU and that the 300 richestpeople are worth close to €50 billion.

Many of this super-rich elite are taxexiles who refuse to pay their taxeshere. Others pay a minimal rate oftax.

Instead of trying to impose furthertaxation on ordinary families, thegovernment should make the wealthypay their share of tax.

€€100 now …over €€1000 soon

Property Tax will be neither‘fair’ nor ‘progressive’

The €100 household tax wasintroduced as a temporarymeasure to be replaced by a full

property tax and a separate water taxby 2014.

However in response to criticisms of theflat nature of the tax, it is intended tobring forward the introduction of thefull property tax possibly as early as2013. MinisterPhil Hogan hassaid this will be‘fair’ and‘progressive’.The realityhowever is thatit will beneither.

The 2009Commission on Taxation suggested thathouses valued between €150,000 and€300,000 should be levied with aproperty tax of €563. John Fitzgeraldof the ESRI estimated that the propertytax could be as high as €800 per year.For families struggling to deal with thecosts of the economic crisis, therewould be nothing ‘fair’ about having toface such astronomical bills. (And awater tax of approximately €500 peryear as well!)

A lot of nonsense has been writtenabout the ‘progressive’ nature of such aproperty tax and the need to ‘expandthe tax base’. Stephen Collins in theIrish Times claimed that “extra taxesshould not be imposed on work but onfixed assets like property”. But asordinary workers, we only have onesource of income – that which we getfrom our work. So if we have to pay aproperty tax we have to pay it out ofthe wages we earn. Unlike the wealthysections of society we don’t havealternative sources of income such asdividends, rents, etc.

What the government is proposing isnot a property tax in the real sense –one which would be levied on thewealth and assets held by thewealthiest sections of society. A realproperty tax would make sure thatthose who own real wealth would beforced to pay more taxes. Instead whatis proposed is simply a home tax, whichif allowed to be implemented will forcethose of us on low and middle incomesto pay more, while continuing to let thewealthy off scot free.

Let’s Stand together andbeat the Household Taxes

Household Tax newsletter 17/01/2012 10:51 Page 2

In rural areas, the fight against theseptic tank registration fee is a keypart of the campaign against

household taxes.

People connected to a mains sewagetreatment system may be unaware ofthe importance of this issue, but it ishaving a huge impact in ruralcommunities. Originally, thegovernment proposed a €300inspection fee for septic tanks, which itreduced to €50 after a concerted mediacampaign.

The excuse offered for theintroduction of the registration fee is

because successive governmentsrefused to implement an EU directiveon ground water pollution and thatconsequently, the State is being finedfor non-compliance.

But local Councils already have theinformation on those not connected toa public mains sewage system andtherefore they know who has a septictank. The registration fee is a cynicalattempt to take more money frompeople already reeling from three yearsof austerity budgets.

Everybody agrees that pollution issuesmust be dealt with and clean drinkingwater must be guaranteed to everyhousehold. There are an estimated400,000 septic tanks in the state andthere are fears that a large number ofthese will fail to meet the directive.

If a tank fails the test, upgrading thesystem could cost between €5,000 and€15,000. To date, the government hasnot made clear whether financialassistance will be available. This despite

the fact that ahuge number ofhouseholdswere grantedplanningpermission forseptic tanks,even thoughsuccessivegovernmentsknew theplanningregulations did not comply with EUdirectives.

Attempts have been made to isolate thisissue from the household tax and theproposed water tax but the three taxescannot be separated. In all cases, noextra services are being provided fromthe collection of charges. Instead,money is being freed up to pay off thedebts of bankers and developers.

As with the household tax and the watertax, we should be saying loud and clear,“We can’t pay septic tank registrationcharges, we won’t pay!”

There is no automatic fine.

� People who don’t register have to be brought to courtand have a case proved against them. But if hundredsof thousands, or even a million households, refuse toregister – they cannot take everyone to court.

� The Campaign will set up a legal defence fund fromsome of the membership fee (€5 per household)currently being collected around the country.

� By challenging each case, we can clog up the system.Just as happened during the campaign against watercharges in Dublin in the 1990s, if someone in an area istaken to court, we can organise to ensure that hundredsof fellow non-payers turn up to support them.

� Politically, we can collectively challenge the government

for taking people before the courts for not paying thistax while bankers and speculators continue to get offscot free.

� A fine for non-registration or the Household Tax itselfcould be deducted directly from your wages or socialwelfare payment.

Under current legislation this is not possible.

� To do this the government would need to change the law.Again if we build a mass campaign and if up to a millionhouseholds are collectively saying to the government‘your tax is unacceptable’ they are much less likely to tryto bring forward such legislation. The Campaign intendsto build links with trade unions and will be calling ontrade unionists to boycott any work that would assist thegovernment in organising deductions.

GGoovveerrnnmmeenntt TThhrreeaattss CCaann bbee DDeeffeeaatteedd iiffWWee SSttaanndd TTooggeetthheerr

To force us to pay the household tax the government has made a number of threats. But if we face thesethreats collectively we can resist them. There are two main threats being used to try and scare people toregister and pay:

A maximum €2,500 fine for those who don’t register

IItt’’ss TThhee SSaammee FFiigghhttDon’t Pay the Septic Tank Registration Charge

Household Tax newsletter 17/01/2012 10:51 Page 3

Q:How much is thehousehold tax? €100

Q:Who has to register/pay?Every homeowner in the state(1.8m) is being asked to register.Every homeowner is being asked topay except some groups such ascouncil tenants (including sharedownership), people living in namedghost estates, those entitled tomortgage interest supplement andowners of commercial property.

Q:When is the deadline forregistration? March 31 2012.

Q:Will this money be usedto improve local services?No. Local authority budgets havebeen slashed to pay for the bailoutand this tax will not even cover allthese cuts.

Q:Why does the governmentwant you to register? Itwants the information you give themwhen registering to build up adatabase. They would not be able tointroduce property tax (2013) andwater tax (2014) without this.

Q: Isn’t a property taxprogressive? There isnothing “progressive” about taxing thehomes of ordinary people. Themansions of the super-wealthy shouldbe taxed but this can be done insteadvia a wealth and assets tax.

Q:How much wouldproperty and water taxbe? Probably more than €1000 ayear.

Q: Can I be charged extra if Idon’t pay? Yes. There is a10% late charge for the first 6 months,a 20% late charge for the second sixmonths and a 30% late charge afterthat. There is also an extra 1%charge for each month. That means apenalty of €42 in a year.

Q: Can I be fined for non-registration? Yes. But thisis not an automatic fine. The localauthority would have to take you tocourt and the court would have to findagainst you. You could receive a“Class C” fine of up to a maximum€2500.

Q: Can a fine be deductedfrom my wages or socialwelfare? Not unless the government

changes the law. And only then if thelocal authority takes you to court andthe court finds against you.

Q: Can this be stopped? Yes.If a huge number of people

refuse to register, the government willbe unable to bring everyone to court.This campaign will appeal to tradeunionists to boycott all work aimed atpenalising non-payers. There will bean almighty political storm if thegovernment start cases againstordinary workers protesting againstan unjust tax used to fund an unjustbailout. The Campaign also intends toestablish a legal defence fund fromsome of the €5 membership feespaid by those who join the campaign.

Q:Has a government everbeen beaten on an issuelike this? Yes. Thatcher’s poll taxwas defeated in Britain. “Peoplepower” beat water charges here in the1990s.

Q:What can I do to supportthe campaign? Don’tregister. Don’t pay. Contact us. Takea window poster, car sticker, leaflets.Come to your local meeting. Get yourfriends, neighbours, workmatesinvolved. Spread the word. Join theCampaign by paying the €5membership fee to help fundCampaign materials and the legaldefence fund.

AAllll yyoouu nneeeedd ttoo kknnooww aabboouutttthhee HHoouusseehhoolldd TTaaxx

We answer some of the questions you might have about the Household Tax

For additional information see the longer FAQ on the Campaign website

www.nohouseholdtax.orgCampaign Hotline 1890 989800

CAMPAIGN AGAINST HOUSEHOLD AND WATER TAXES

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