Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

We Independents are often told that the country could not function without political parties because they draft manifestos and position papers before elections, yet they are frequently criticised for breaking their promises. Those of us who publicly stated that we would commit an act of civil disobedience by not paying the household charge have been criticised by those on the Government side.

Regarding a property tax, Fine Gael's "Less Waste Lower Taxes Stronger Growth" document and its election manifesto state:

Fianna Fail's proposal, now endorsed by the Labour Party, to introduce by 2014 an annual, recurring residential property tax on the family home is unfair for three reasons:

The initial flat rate charge means that owners of houses in standard neighbourhoods will pay as much as the owners of mansions.

It will be difficult to pay for asset-rich but income poor households, particularly the elderly and the unemployed; and

It will be deeply unfair for a young generation that paid exorbitant amounts of stamp duty and VAT on the purchases on over-valued houses, many of whom now find themselves in negative equity.

One could add to the last category people in pyrite homes and those who do not own property, namely, people who are in so much negative equity that all they own are debts.

The household charge was not introduced to collect €100, but to create a database of people's names, addresses and PPS numbers so as to allow for the collection of a property tax next year. I stated as much when the House debated the legislation.

One of my main problems with this tax is that we do not have a local government system. Rather, we have a system of local administration. In Denmark, extensive services are delivered at local level and democratically controlled. Had we such a system and if the amount of money levied could be controlled, an argument could be made for funding services locally. However, we are far from that system.

This forms part of my reason for refusing to pay the household charge and for standing in solidarity with others who are doing likewise, as I stated during the debate on the legislation. This will remain a valid response until a justifiable system is in place. The charge as imposed is not justified and the Minister was correct when he told the House that it was unfair.

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