Tax protestors to run election candidates

Campaigners against the new property tax have pledged to run candidates in next year’s local elections in Galway despite an “unprecedented volume” of late registrations which saw the Revenue Commissioners extend the deadline.

The Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes (CAHWT) Galway urged those who have boycotted the household and property taxes to date to “hold firm” and not to bow to what they described as “propaganda” from the Government and Revenue.

Online registrations were said to be running at 10,000 per hour in the run-up to Tuesday’s original deadline and the Government now expects to generate €250 million in revenue from the new tax this year, after extending the deadline by 20 hours.

Those who have refused to file have been warned that the money will be taken from their wages, pensions, or bank accounts from July 1.

Revenue sent out 1.66 million notifications in March and were claiming a compliance rate of almost 90 per cent on Wednesday afternoon, but CAHWT Galway have accused them of massaging the figures as there are believed to be 1.8 million property owners across the country.

A spokesman for CAHWT Galway, Conor Burke, said it was clear that a significant minority would defy Wednesday’s extended deadline and force Revenue to make good on threats that the tax would be taken from people’s wages and bank accounts. He accused the Government of subsidising the rich at the expense of the poor by bringing in the new charge.

“The robbing of this tax from already hard pressed workers, home owners, and families represents just how low Fine Gael and Labour are willing to sink in order to implement their bailout programme,” said Mr Burke.