There are other ways to raise income other than double taxation
This protest is as much about injustice as it’s about our water.
The Local Government Financial Provisions Act 1997 Section 12, (2), (a), (1) states: ‘after the 31st day of December, 1996, a sanitary authority MAY NOT make a charge for a supply by them of water for domestic purposes’. This is because water was being paid for through general taxation. It’s not the fault of the Irish people that the money wasn’t invested to maintain our water network to an acceptable standard.
And now we have Enda Kenny’s attempting to bully and intimidate vulnerable families with tax hikes, penalties and benefit cuts in a desperate attempt to make us comply.
I hope the Irish people will send another clear message during further planned protests on December 10. We can’t allow our most precious natural resource (our water) to fall prey to big business profiteers, the way our oil and gas did. We need it protected in our constitution for future generations and we don’t need another quango like Irish Water.
A government that purports to serve its electorate but resorts to threats when we protest, is one that’s clearly out of touch with the everyday lives of ordinary people.
Irish people have been too laid-back for too long.
If this government were truly interested in what people like me had to say: I would say stop the threats and use your heads to get us out of this mess. I can think of several ways to raise significant funds to fix our ailing water system without increasing income tax or cutting the child benefit of low and middle income earners.
1. A millionaire tax (8 US states already have a millionaire tax and France is introducing it).
2. Cut universal benefits for high earners.
Whether in the case of children’s allowance or free travel it makes no sense to give funds, from a limited pot, to people who don’t need it.
3. Increase corporation tax by 1%. According to my calculations around €336m would be raised and the tax rate would still be the lowest in Europe.
4. Sell ‘water bonds’ (with a guaranteed return after 5/10-years) to Irish people. This would not only put the ownership of the nation’s water firmly in the hands of the people but also provide a reliable investment for their future.
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