Sinn Féin group hold protest against Local Property Tax

BY CIARAN TIERNEY

 A small group of Sinn Féin activists staged a protest outside Galway County Hall yesterday to express their on-going opposition to the Local Property Tax.

The demonstration was timed to raise awareness of a repeal bill, aiming to reverse the charge, which the party is set to put before the Dail over the next two days.

A spokesman, Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, said the reported compliance rate of about 90% prior to last month’s deadline should not mask the fact that significant portion of the population is completely against the tax.

He said that many people only registered out of fear that Revenue had been granted “draconian powers” to access their wages and bank accounts.

“This bill is to repeal the Household Tax. It’s the earliest possible chance Sinn Féin have had to try and have this tax repealed. People still can’t afford to pay this tax. If they do have the money taken out of their accounts, it’s going to mean having to cut short in other areas of household expenditure or their mortgages,” he said.

“I think when people see the likes of the Google and Facebook debacles, with corporation tax not being collected from multinational corporations, they are very angry at being asked again and again to pay taxes that they don’t have. They only registered out of pure and absolute fear, because of bullyboy tactics on behalf of Revenue and the Government.”

He said the protest was held at Galway County Hall to highlight how services provided by local authorities have been decimated while the Government slashes services in order to bailout bank bondholders.

“Local authorities across the State are being held to ransom by an incumbent Government obsessed with their own austerity agenda. Local councils have seen their budgets slashed with local services and local communities paying the price,” he said.

Senator Ó Clochartaigh called on people in Galway to lobby their local TDs to vote in favour of Sinn Féin’s repeal bill this week.

While he admitted the party’s bill had little chance of succeeding this week, he said it was important to keep the debate going about how people on low incomes should not be forced to pay for the misdeeds of bankers and developers.

“The Government are facing into their next Budget in October. They are looking at other options to hammer ordinary people, because they are paying off all of the bondholders in full.

We need to remind them that people are in dire straits,” he added.

Opponents of the new property tax have already vowed to run candidates in next year’s local elections in Galway.