Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Tá an Bille seo ag cur cánach nua anuas ar phobal na tíre seo. Cáin teaghlaigh €100 a bhéas ann i dtús báire, ach tá a fhios againn cheana go bhfuil sé i gceist ag an Aire cáin réadmhaoine agus táillí uisce a chur ina áit chun athrú a dhéanamh amach anseo. Ní cáin fhorchéimnitheach an cháin seo mar níl sí ceangailte, ar aon bhealach, le hábaltacht iad siúd ar a leagfar í chun í a íoc.

This Bill imposes the first of a series of ultra-regressive taxes. The Minister has indicated that the €100 flat tax will be quickly followed by a property tax and water charges, both of which will be significantly more than €100. Progressive tax regimes link taxation to the ability to pay. Even the exemptions to this charge, limited as they are, pay no heed to ability to pay. An individual who lives in an established housing estate can face a financial struggle that is equal to somebody living in a ghost estate.

The Minister is introducing the scabbiest waiver scheme ever. Even if one subtracts social housing, the private rental sector and ghost estates from our 1.6 million households, more than 1 million households remain. The Government gave a waiver only to the 18,000 social welfare recipients who are entitled to a repayment of the mortgage interest supplement. Almost 500,000 people are out of work and last week's budget will suspend the mortgage interest supplement for 12 months for many people. How many of those 18,000 waivers will remain?

Between 200,000 and 300,000 families depend exclusively on social welfare payments. Not all of these families are living in local authority housing or rented accommodation. Hundreds of thousands of families who own their own homes will not get waivers. Older people who depend on the meagre State pension will not get waivers. Struggling families who are excluded from the mortgage interest supplement by the 30 hour rule, which was not reformed as promised in the programme for Government, will not get a waiver. By introducing a provision for payment by increment, the Minister acknowledges that he is targeting people who do not have €100 to pay the charge.

The €10 transaction charge for making payments in cash is an outrageous additional burden. The Minister is targeting the poorest of homeowners with this extra charge. According to the ESRI, banking exclusion in Ireland is three times higher than the EU-15 average. Some 20% of Irish households do not have bank accounts, a figure that rises to 40% among those with low educational qualifications, 38% among households in the bottom quartile for income and 27% among those over the age of 55. Many people in our society are functionally illiterate or have no access to computers and others do not have bank accounts for a variety of reasons, including fear of the banking system. Who can blame them given what has happened recently?

While it would be easy for me to jump on the do not pay campaign bandwagon, I urge caution because people should be fully aware of the consequences of such a stance. I do not want to see a repeat of what many people in Dublin are facing as a result of weighing in behind the anti-bin charges campaign. They were encouraged not to pay but are now facing charges of up to €2,000 and the campaign has all but disappeared.

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