Household charge may pass €100, says Hogan
Fine Gael Environment Minister Phil Hogan said the charge — which was only made public on Tuesday — could increase before it is replaced by a full property tax based on site valuations in 2014 if the country’s financial survival requires it.
The charge will be imposed on 1.6 million people when it comes into effect on January 1, 2012.
A total of 250,000 households will be exempt — including people in receipt of mortgage interest supplements and those living in social housing owned by local authorities.
However, it has been heavily criticised for the fact people on low incomes will be forced to pay the exact same as those who can more easily afford the cost.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Hogan said the charge is expected to raise €160 million in 2012, a sum which will be used to fund local services such as fire brigades and street lighting. However, he said he could not guarantee the charge will stay at the initial rate.
“Each year the Minister for Finance will have to look at the budgetary arithmetic. All I can is that for 2012, it will be €100 or €2 a week,” he said.
Leading United Left Alliance (ULA) TDs Joe Higgins, Socialist Party, and Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit Alliance, have insisted they will organise a nationwide boycott of the incoming tax regardless of its legal status.
Mr Higgins said he expects the charge to sneak up to as much as €500 in a short time, with Mr Boyd Barrett adding that while the cost may not seem much to high-earning individuals it could push financially poorer families over the edge.
However, Mr Hogan said the opposition are failing to see the bigger picture, stating that “we are as a country broke”.
“If people like Joe Higgins want to grandstand in the Dáil about it they can tell the people where they’re going to get the money otherwise,” said the Government minister.
Meanwhile, new Central Statistics Office figures show home values fell by 2.1% last month — the worst drop since May 2009 and placing homeowners into even further financial heartache.
The price of an average house is now 12.9% less than it was this time last year, and a massive 42% lower than at the height of economic boom in September 2007.
The monthly drop in June came after relatively small declines in April and May, with the average decline between April and June standing at 1.4%.
The figure is almost identical to the 1.5% drop in the first three months of this year, indicating that the property crisis is continuing unabated.
