Anti-household tax campaign takes off

A CAMPAIGN against the recently introduced household
charge launched on the Southside last week is encouraging homeowners not to pay
the tax and risk fines of up to

?¬2,500.

The Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes (CAHWT)
was launched against the controversial

?¬100 charge in Tallaght.

Organisers are planning to hold 20 more public
meetings in the Dublin South West Dail constituency area over the coming weeks.

The CAHWT says it needs the support of householders if
it is to have any chance of success in forcing the Government to reverse the
measure.

The new

?¬100 Household Charge came into effect on
January 1. It is an annual charge on the owners of residential property in the
State and will be used to part fund the local authorities.

It has to be paid by March 31 and there are
interest charges and penalties for any
late payment.

A spokesman at the Department of the Environment said
that 18,303 properties had registered online, 14,441 had paid online and 3,862
direct debits had been set up to pay for the e100 charge by 2pm on Friday last.

Mick Murphy, a Socialist Party representative in the
Dublin West constituency, is one of the prominent members of the campaign. He
said he will be urging members of the public to consider not registering or
paying the charge.

Those who do not register and pay can be prosecuted in
the courts and face fines of up to

?¬2,500.

“We will be encouraging people to get involved in the
campaign,

? Mr Murphy said.

“The strategy is to encourage people not to register
and not to pay.

?

Mr Murphy believes that if the campaign succeeds in
attracting enough members to its ranks, the justice system will not have the
capacity to bring the thousands of resisters before the courts.

“They can’t fine you until you are brought in front of
a judge,

? he stated.

“Obviously hundreds of thousands of people can’t go before
a judge. They can only bring relatively small numbers of people to court and
they have to win those cases.

“We will have barristers and legal defence funds in
place so the State will have a tough time winning cases. We have already been
here before with the bin charges and the water tax. We can very much frustrate
them.

?

He claimed that by next month all householders on the
Southside should be able to contact a campaign group. He also said that people
who want to become members of the campaign will be asked to contribute

?¬5 per
annum to meet the costs of defending people who do not pay the fines in court.

“Everybody will have an opportunity to go to meetings
and we will be knocking on all the doors as well,

? he added.

Meanwhile, Socialist Party MEP for Dublin and
anti-household tax campaigner, Paul Murphy, from Ballinteer, lodged a complaint
with the Data Commissioner about the Household Tax website
www.householdcharge.ie.

He maintains the website is in breach of the 2011
regulations on

‘Privacy and Electronic Communications’ which implements EU
directives on privacy.

Mr Murphy, who owns an apartment in Ballinteer, said:

“I won’t be paying and I won’t be registering. I will be very, very strongly
urging people not to pay. This is an entirely unjust and regressive tax, which
will hit working class people much harder than rich people.

?

Two Dublin South Central TDs, Deputy Joan Collins (PBP)
and Deputy Aengus O Snodaigh (SF), as well as Paul Murphy MEP, had recently
told Southside People that they would be willing to go to prison for
non-payment of the charge.

However, the Government has since announced that it
will consider deducting fines for non-registration and non-payment of the
charge from people’s social welfare payments and pay packets.

Responding to Mr Murphy’s claim that the website
contravened data and privacy regulations, Environment Minister Phil Hogan TD
(FG) insisted it adhered to the required data protection and privacy standards.

He noted that the Data Protection Commissioner had
indicated some issues in relation to the privacy statement on the website but
the minister assured the public that such issues would be addressed

“immediately

?.