Rabbitte: Household Charge gave people chance to 'kick back'
Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte said today that the Household Charge gave the Irish public the "opportunity to kick back" after years of cutbacks.
As of Saturday's deadline, around 805,000 people had paid the €100 tax, about half of all those liable to pay, according to Government estimates.
Minister Pat Rabbitte said that although he was confident the majority of people will have paid by time the summer recess arrives, he understood why there was so much resistance to a new tax.
"My own view is that after four years of cutbacks and very painful decisions for people," he said.
"I think they probably seized on the Household Charge as their opportunity to kick back, and I think a lot of people have done that.
"I understand that in a recession that has gone on so long as this one, and one where the banking collapse has made it so much worse, that people would not welcome a new tax."
