why are so many paying the Household charge early?

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"there should be a property tax "

Why should there be ? Why should people be fined (taxed) every year for having saved to buy a property ?

"negative equity does not justify non-payment"

On the basis that property tax will be introduced on a sliding scale of value....
Peter has a house worth €200k and owes nothing. Peter pays €400 p.a. property tax.
Paul has a €300k house, but owes €500k to the bank - so actually he is €400k poorer in property terms than Peter, yet pays €800 property tax ?? !!.

Please, Gekko,could you explain why this is fair -or even economically sensible ?

Why should people be fined (taxed) every year for having saved to buy a car?

Negative equity is an unfortunate result of people's speculation in relation to the property market. The very people constantly going on about negative equity would be a lot quieter if they were in the money now (i.e. if the bubble kept inflating).
 
I strongly, strongly support a property tax. I always have.

You are probably in a significant minority on that one,you seem to be positively delighted at the prospect of paying a tax to live in your own home...

Its a pity then its not an opt in/out sort of tax...if it were I reckon it would be you and roughly 20 others paying it.
 
€100 per annum is nothing.

I completely disagree. :( EUR100 is 'nothing' to who exactly? Maybe not to you, but to plenty of people it is something. And just because a person can afford it does not mean they automatically should pay it. Same goes for anything for which you pay money: you don't just accept being robbed/mugged/overcharged do you, even if you have the money?
 
i was typing when other posts came in and exactly my thoughts. people falling over themselves to pay a government that failed on very single promise given. lets see how many pay up as quick next year. in fact i think its all lies
Nope, not a lie, simply being honest. Some form of council tax is long overdue in this country. The notion of expecting sovereign borrowing to pay for services is inimical to me.

ps i am still gobsmacked and will be so for a very long time, this sets a bad precedent, they will do the same with water charges, mark my words
Yes I fully intend paying for water charges when they come in.

Cannot see what the rush to pay this is for, sad to see people wanting to hand over money in any form to this government.
It is only playing into their hands to see how glad homeowners are to pay up a 100€ tax so quickly.
Would there be a rush to pay if it were 500€ as it may well be in a short while? Paying this so quickly will only serve to have the charge increased year on year.

Why will they not issue a geniune bill to the household? I don't pay bills unless they arrive in my letter box.
Think FG have shot themselves in the foot on this and chasing the "Silver Surfers" for tax on their pensions, can't wait to see the papers tomorrow.
Being a great start to the new year already with all the other increases, no pub for me for a year until they change the vat rate.
Exactly why is is sad to see people handing over money in any form to this government, would it be any more palatable to a different government? Because I assure you even Sinn Fein would have had to face the consequences of their daft 'policies' and slapped on the taxes, in fact their suggestions for government policy if ever implemented would cost considerably more.

Nobody is glad to pay, people are realistic. Services cost money. We are not paying enough in this country to cover the cost of them. We are out of line with other countries because we do not pay for them.

Of course it will rise, as the website clearly states this is a token gesture to comply with the requirements of that bailout. While I would have preferred we never took the cash, while I would have preferred we never guaranteed the banks, while I would have preferred we never bailed them out - the reality is we did, therefore the money has to be paid back, therefore the terms have to be met.

You are probably in a significant minority on that one,you seem to be positively delighted at the prospect of paying a tax to live in your own home...

Its a pity then its not an opt in/out sort of tax...if it were I reckon it would be you and roughly 20 others paying it.

The charge applies to house owners, not occupiers so it cannot be considered (at least at the moment) a tax to live in your own home.

I completely disagree. :( EUR100 is 'nothing' to who exactly? Maybe not to you, but to plenty of people it is something. And just because a person can afford it does not mean they automatically should pay it. Same goes for anything for which you pay money: you don't just accept being robbed/mugged/overcharged do you, even if you have the money?
€100 is always something but in comparison to what the charge will be when it is fully implemented it is comparatively small.
In the same vein as your second point, do you think it is okay to expect other people to pay for your services? Do you want the German taxpayers or the French or the English to do so? Our tax take is not sufficient to pay for our outgoings, we are borrowing to fund them. We are still borrowing to fund them, I don't think that welching on neighbours is appropriate nor do I think that paying for services is being robbed.
 
As mentioned in another thread I registered and then tried to set up a DD to pay it but for some reason that I cannot see the site refuses to accept my bank details. I'll get back to this when they get back to my support query email.
 
You are probably in a significant minority on that one,you seem to be positively delighted at the prospect of paying a tax to live in your own home...

I am not "delighted" to pay any tax.

I am for a rebalancing of our tax system.

I am all for property taxes.


I fully agree with new taxes like:
  • landfill levy
  • carbon tax
  • plastic bag tax
  • emissions-based tax on cars, etc.
  • water charges
BUT, I think 50%+ income tax rates on the margin are crazy. Especially for people on 35-40k.

So I think there should be a third (or fourth) income tax rate, e.g. 30%

I would like lower VAT, same as UK, 20%.

I would like the lower rate of VAT to be reduced from 13.5% to 10%.
 
they need 17.7k households to register every single day from Jan 1 to March 31st.

thats about 141k as of today - how many have actually paid? 1/10th of that perhaps.

People will always pay things early 'to get it out of the way' - theres nothing to be gobsmacked about, we all do it sometimes, even if its just paying for something in the shops.

What is crucial is the total on March 31st, and how much it will cost to chase the (most likely) mass non-compliance
 
I have been working for the last 30 odd years and have paid all my taxes. I remember 1976 when we had a Dutch auction by the two main parties in order to get into power. Rates was the big one (say €1,000) and was abolished as a vote getter by FF. This was the start of our economic downfall and lead to the depressions in the mid-eighties. My first mortgage in 1980 was at a rate of 16.3%.At the time I did not think that it was big - it was the going rate! We did not have 'the markets' then saying that 7% was a disaster, but equally we only had the Punt which was ours only. The Building Society limited me to 3 times my salary and 2.5 times my wife's. Oh and I was limited to a 20 year mortgage. Here I am 30 years later with no mortgage, with a sound practical working and living experience of the ups and downs of the Irish economy.
Given my background, why wouldn't I pay a mere €100 for 2012 - lets face it we have been living in cloud-cuckooland for the last ten years - Ireland is the only country in Europe not to have any sort of Household Charge be it water or rates.
I am doing my bit in paying this charge in order to redress the mismanagement of this country.
Yes, I have suffered redundancy, yes I have suffered a 10% pay cut, yes I have children who don't all have jobs, and no I do not earn over 60k.
Neither do I want to go to jail !
 
I'm also for a property tax and water charges. If they bring in water charges we will be able to invest in the water infrastructure and stop all the costly waste throught leaks and Irish people thinking water is free and they can run their taps when their is frost outside.

Where I live I pay both and people are very careful here with water. The minute there is a leak the water company is there within the day as happened recently at 11.30 pm prior to a bank holiday when they cut the water off and at 9 am on the bank holiday two men arrived with all the gear to get it sorted with notice in my letter box that morning and a phone number to call. They worked until lunchtime and sorted it out.

For my property tax I get great council service, services have to be paid for. To those who don't want to pay pray tell how are services to be paid for.

As for paying it before the deadline, I'll be paying as close to 31st March as is convenient.
 
I don't have an issue with property tax, it's the unfairness of not just this, but practivcally everything in the system. Here 's the comparison.

Mick and Joe work for thirty years in the same factory. It closes, both are made redundant. While they worked Mick sacrificed drink, smoking, clubbing etc, bought a house, and saved some money, Joe had a great time, kept renting and saved nothing. The redundancy money was saved by Mick and spent by Joe.

Move on ten years, neither have worked since. Mick lives in his own house, has reduced Social welfare payments (means-tested), has no medical card (means-tested), and is liable for household charge, water charges, property tax etc.

Joe is in subsidised rented accommodation, gets full social welfare payments, has a medical card, and is liable for no taxes/charges.

It just doesn't seem right.
 
If you start dd, does that mean it will rollover to next year if they hike it up, I will pay before deadline but worried that once a direct debit started it just continues?
 
Domestic Rates pre 1978

I have been working for the last 30 odd years and have paid all my taxes. I remember 1976 when we had a Dutch auction by the two main parties in order to get into power. Rates was the big one (say €1,000) and was abolished as a vote getter by FF. This was the start of our economic downfall and lead to the depressions in the mid-eighties. My first mortgage in 1980 was at a rate of 16.3%.At the time I did not think that it was big - it was the going rate! We did not have 'the markets' then saying that 7% was a disaster, but equally we only had the Punt which was ours only. The Building Society limited me to 3 times my salary and 2.5 times my wife's. Oh and I was limited to a 20 year mortgage. Here I am 30 years later with no mortgage, with a sound practical working and living experience of the ups and downs of the Irish economy.
Given my background, why wouldn't I pay a mere €100 for 2012 - lets face it we have been living in cloud-cuckooland for the last ten years - Ireland is the only country in Europe not to have any sort of Household Charge be it water or rates.
I am doing my bit in paying this charge in order to redress the mismanagement of this country.
Yes, I have suffered redundancy, yes I have suffered a 10% pay cut, yes I have children who don't all have jobs, and no I do not earn over 60k.
Neither do I want to go to jail !

+1.
Likewise, we purchased our home in 1977, and the sale closed in Feb 1978, thus having never had to pay a cent in any form of rates/property tax etc ever since till 2012. Our friends resident outside the ROI couldn't believe that. Wonder if any AAMers who owned residential property prior to 1977 would please describe the process of Irish domestic rates? All I could remember was that the householders were issued with a certificate of rateable value (RV) fixed by the local council?
thanks, allencat
 
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Likewise, we purchased our home in 1977, and the sale closed in Feb 1978, thus having never had to pay a cent in any form of rates/property tax etc ever since till 2012.

Other than rates there was an actual property tax for about 3 years in the eighties ? My understanding is that anyone who sells, even now may still be liable for that tax.
 
Irish people thinking water is free and they can run their taps when their is frost outside.

:confused: Like you, I already pay for water, but last winter we had no option but to run our taps at night during the extreme cold spell, otherwise we were at risk of sustaining serious plumbing damage.
 
:confused: Like you, I already pay for water, but last winter we had no option but to run our taps at night during the extreme cold spell, otherwise we were at risk of sustaining serious plumbing damage.

And when we have water charges Irish people will ensure that their pipes are properly insulated and at a proper depth underground so that there is no chance of a burst pipe. I had (abnormal) colder weather in Ireland last January but no one around here ran their taps.
 
And when we have water charges Irish people will ensure that their pipes are properly insulated and at a proper depth underground so that there is no chance of a burst pipe.

...and spend thousands digging up the tarmac and redoing the entire plumbing just to save €50 in water if there is a serious freeze? :confused:

I had (abnormal) colder weather in Ireland last January but no one around here ran their taps.

Well we continued doing so for its duration, once we saw what happened some of our neighbours who hadn't done likewise.
 
Well we continued doing so for its duration, once we saw what happened some of our neighbours who hadn't done likewise.

If we had run a tap, it would certainly have frozen at the waste pipe and flooded the house. Bad enough the water froze under the concrete at the back of the house. To have to deal with a flood in those temperatures would have fried our heads.
 
Different strokes for different folks. My point is that in our situation, all the water charges in the world wouldn't have tempted us to switch off our outside tap. The notion that water charges are going to cure a whole range of ills is a fantasy.
 
The notion that water charges are going to cure a whole range of ills is a fantasy.

This is true.. but when meters & water charges were introduced for commercial (including farming) operations a number of years ago comsumption of water was reduced dramatically. Some of the reduction can be attributed to waste reduction and some to alternative supplies from wells.
 
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