Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to outline it if the Deputy will be patient. Some 400,000 people who had no job were given one in order magically to conjure up enough money to pay the property tax. People living in ghost estates who are obliged to be vigilant every day in ensuring their children do not fall into the holes where the paths should be are obliged to pay the tax. People who built houses on sites and paid €15,000 for services that were never provided are liable for the charge. People in local authority housing are obliged to pay it. Even if one accepts the principle of a property tax, it makes no sense to impose it at a time when earnings and incomes are completely ruptured from the collapse in property values. People are already dealing with cuts in child benefit, increased motor charges, carbon taxes, excise duties, prescription charges and VAT imposed by this Government, as well as the imminent introduction of water charges.

After affordability, the second rule of any tax is that individuals should only pay their fair share. Many people in this country have paid stamp duty on their homes. Anybody who paid €20,000, for example, has already contributed a multiple of the annual property tax charge. The third rule is that every tax should serve to improve society. The property tax, however, will make no difference to the provision of public services and will add nothing to the ability of local authorities to serve citizens.

A good proportion of the tax will go to pay unguaranteed, unsecured debt. The Fine Gael and Labour method of collecting this debt is actually brutal. The Government is prepared to loot salaries, social welfare payments and pensions. If the payment is deferred until the death of the individual, Fine Gael and Labour will come knocking on the door looking for the money from the struggling family. Contrast that method with the method that the Government has arranged for struggling families waiting for years for maintenance due to them. The cant we hear from the Government is that there is no alternative, this is the only way it can be done. Year on year, Sinn Féin has costed alternative budgets for this Government to take into consideration. Wealth taxes are successful in Europe. We have put forward a third rate of tax standardisation, discretionary taxes and many other suggestions.

The Government talks about the North. There is a book in Easons entitled, The Idiot's Guide to Constitutional Politicswhich explains clearly at Junior Certificate level the difference between the situations in the North and South of Ireland. We do not have fiscal powers in the North of Ireland. We are doing our damnedest to get them back and it would be great if the Minister got off his arse and helped us as well.

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