Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I believe Deputy Mitchell said that this measure might provoke a revolution and I certainly hope it does. Even short of a revolution, it may well be the rock on which this Government perishes and I hope it is for the sake of the country and our economy. If the Minister proceeds with this measure, there is no question but that he will be driving hundreds of thousands of families into poverty and despair and he will devastate the already devastated domestic economy.

When we say that people cannot pay this tax, that is clearly apparent; the facts speak for themselves. Some 1.3 million people have less than €50 a month after they pay their bills, 40% of population have to borrow to pay their bills as matters stand, and 22% of households are jobless. These figures are worse than those in Greece and Spain, for all the Minister's claims that we are in a better place than them. Some 160,000 people are in mortgage distress or have had their mortgages restructured. Those people, many of whom face an overlap of difficulties, are hit by all the different aspects of this crisis and they cannot afford to pay this tax.

If one's house in Dublin is worth €200,000, one will have to pay property tax of €405 per year or €33 per month. If one has two children, that tax liability will be on top of the loss of €20 in child benefit and, if one is working, the loss of €20 a month due to the removal of the PRSI exemption. That will push tens of thousands of people under the limit. They simply cannot afford to pay this tax. The imposition of the tax is a guaranteed sure-fire recipe for plunging hundreds of thousands of low- and middle-income families into poverty. They will have no choice but to revolt and, believe you me, they will revolt. If the Minister thought he saw a major popular explosion against the household charge, wait until he sees the revolt that will occur as a result of this.

I appeal to the Labour Party and to the Fine Gael Deputies who have rightly spoken out against this measure and appealed to the Government, even though its members have not listened, to examine fair alternatives that would involve taxing the profits of corporations or those who have the money to pay, to break ranks with the Government, because it is sending the country down the Swanee. I appeal to them to stand with the people who elected them, to stand with this country and with the ordinary citizens, and to break with this Government which will destroy the economy and devastate the lives of hundreds of thousands of families.

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