Household charge - Incitement to break law of the land

The controversy over the household charge of €100 is rumbling on amidst the continuing posturing. There is no real sign of resolution.

For some people, in the current economic climate €100 is a lot of money, and if members of the Government do not realise this, they are just demonstrating that they are out of touch with reality, which is certainly not a prescription for good government. For a great many people, the charge amounts to a relatively small tax, but that is beside the point, because the whole idea seems so grossly unfair.

Nobody would argue that the charge is transparently fair. The rich person living in a castle is being asked to pay the same amount as the poor individual living in a one-room cottage, even though the amount of services that each uses may be essentially incomparable.