Hired goons to collect house hold charge

[Doozer]

ENVIRONMENT Minister*Phil Hogan
*has ordered city and county councils to set up teams of staff to call to the homes of people who refuse to pay the €100 household charge.
In an attempt to increase pressure on the 1.3 million households that have yet to cough up, Mr*Hogan
*has instructed councils to create so-called "household charge collection teams" and begin targeting offenders from Monday week, the Irish Independent has learned.
The councils will have to redeploy hundreds of staff to undertake the massive clampdown -- but it is unclear how this will work.
Thousands of council staff have left in recent years, meaning that workers are often assuming a number of extra responsibilities to fill gaps in services.
The Government has not allocated extra funding to employ workers on a part-time basis, and figures published last night suggested that hundreds of thousands of house visits are likely to be needed.
Just 328,000 of the 1.6 million households required to pay the charge by next Saturday (March 31) have registered, the Department of the Environment said.
Thousands of people are expected to attend a rally against the tax at the National Stadium in Dublin today, with at least 15 TDs and a number of trade unions advocating mass non-payment.
But the Department of the Environment said it expected a late surge of registrations next week, adding that teams of local authority officials would begin door-to-door calls from Monday, April 2.
They will not wear uniforms but will have to carry and produce photo identification.
"We want the local authorities to be on the ground," a spokesman said.
Court
"Come April 2, local authorities will start knocking on doors. The legislation provides for the local authorities to decide when it initiates court proceedings and we don't want people to get into legal action which can be costly.
"It's a matter for local authorities to decide what areas to targets. Staff will carry the appropriate identification."
The number of inspections to be carried out will be decided by individual councils, which will also decide how many staff to allocate to the task. Officials will be drawn from various council departments.
Households will also be given just two warnings -- one verbal, followed by a written warning -- before legal action is taken.
Yesterday Taoiseach*Enda Kenny
*urged homeowners to pay, saying it was a "reasonable contribution" to help fund local services and the charges were lower than in the UK, where people paid up to €100 a month in council tax.
"This is a €2 charge per week and it's important that people understand that this has to be paid as a contribution toward providing services for people," he said.
"I understand that things are very challenging. The Government is trying to put our public finances back in order. I'd encourage everybody to come out and make sure that they make their contribution to this."
The household charge collection plan drawn up by the Department of the Environment says that work on ensuring compliance will "start immediately" once the deadline for registration passes.
Interest and late-payment penalties are added to the €100 charge if it is not paid on time, while people convicted in court face fines of up to €2,500 -- plus another €100 penalty per day if they refuse to pay after their conviction.

[pez]

More pathetic scare-mongering from the weakest minister in the cabinet. Folks hold your nerve and do not pay this charge. Fergus O'dowd was on the Late Late last night with Ming and the vibe from the audience was for non payment and they weren't planted guests but the random audience members. Strength through numbers is the key to putting this unfair charge in the toilet!

[Halcyondaze]

I reckon it's worth the ten percent late charge fee not to register and see how all this unfolds. I'm giving it 6 months and will take the sixty quid gamble just to see where this goes.
They can't refund money but it could maybe be abandoned.

[Julius Caesar]

It's going to be the end of the government remember the pool tax in the Uk it's very similar

[dr love]

I suspose with the boom over and all surplus staff they have , was a no brainer really .: doc

[EnglishAlex]

I saw a protest about this recently, good to see people uniting over something. It's also great that it keeps their minds off what the escorts are doing too

Can't the (sorry excuse of a) government take it straight out of peoples' banks? I know in Spain that certain government payments (some sort of tax I think) can be taken directly out of the persons bank account. I don't agree or disagree with the payment as I don't understand enough about it but was wondering what power the goverment actually have?

[doodlebug]

I saw a protest about this recently, good to see people uniting over something. It's also great that it keeps their minds off what the escorts are doing too

Can't the (sorry excuse of a) government take it straight out of peoples' banks? I know in Spain that certain government payments (some sort of tax I think) can be taken directly out of the persons bank account. I don't agree or disagree with the payment as I don't understand enough about it but was wondering what power the goverment actually have?

I think the reason the government are not taking it at source is that it is not a tax in the strict sense of the word, so you have to sign up to a contract, that is what is going to kill it for the government. They are obviously now hoping that when someone calls at the door people will sign. There are a number of issues involved, one of the main ones is the PPS number you do not have to give it and indeed there is no reason they need it. I think this will fall at the first legal challenge.

[livewire]

If they come to your house, order them to leave. They have not right to be on your property.

[bulmers19]

All i can say is god help the person dat calls to my front door lookin the money
as mr burns said( release the hounds )

[EnglishAlex]

I think the reason the government are not taking it at source is that it is not a tax in the strict sense of the word, so you have to sign up to a contract, that is what is going to kill it for the government. They are obviously now hoping that when someone calls at the door people will sign. There are a number of issues involved, one of the main ones is the PPS number you do not have to give it and indeed there is no reason they need it. I think this will fall at the first legal challenge.

You have to sign up to pay a mandatory charge issued by the government? I cannot even say how stupid that is. If it's mandatory that means you can't opt out so what the bloody hell are they thinking?