MINISTER FOR the Environment Phil Hogan has said he does not envisage anybody going to jail as a result of not paying the €100 household charge.
Mr Hogan visited the household charge head office in central Dublin yesterday evening to talk to officials who have been processing claims and dealing with calls.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Hogan again said he was confident the numbers registering for the tax would be much higher than has been predicted by commentators and opponents of the charge.
With a day to go to the deadline at midnight tomorrow, more than a million households have still to pay. As of 5pm yesterday, the number of households who had registered had risen to 535,000 with a further 10,000 having registered for waivers from the charge.
The Minister did not agree that there had been a mass boycott of the tax and again expressed confidence there would be a late surge: “Let us see by Saturday evening. I think you will see a significant increase in the people who have paid by Saturday evening, many more than people were predicting.
“A lot of journalists and commentators were predicting 48 hours ago that this would not hit 400,000. We are now at 550,000 and rising,” he said.
Mr Hogan and Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said separately that those who did not pay would not face jail. Mr Shatter said that the Fines Act would come into operation and ultimately the fines, penalties and interest could be attached against properties.
For his part, Mr Hogan said: “There is no reason why anyone should go to prison . . . I do not envisage anybody going to jail for a €100 household charge.”
The Minister defended the campaign to collect the charge against criticisms, some from colleagues, that mistakes had been made.
“This is a new tax. There were always going to be teething problems. I did not have a database,” he said. Mr Hogan said he did not like to impose the tax but there was a need to broaden the tax base: “Whether we like it or not there is a gap of €18 billion between income and expenditure and we have to get the money from somewhere.”
His comments came after the group of Independent and United Left Alliance TDs who have spearheaded the anti-household charge campaign claimed they had succeeded in their ambitions.
The nine TDs, comprising five ULA members and four Independents, urged people not to register and to protest outside the Fine Gael ardfheis in Dublin tomorrow.
Socialist TD Joe Higgins said 73 per cent of people had not paid yet and, though that percentage would come down a fraction, he nonetheless contended that more than a million households would boycott the tax. “It is the first time in the history of the State that a mass movement has been mobilised in this way. It is people power saying they don’t want this new tier of tax and they are also fed up with austerity,” he said.
Meanwhile, an opinion poll conducted by Red C for bookmaker Paddy Power has shown 61 per cent of respondents have indicated they will pay the tax, with 39 per cent saying they will refuse to register.
Mr Shatter yesterday accused Sinn Féin of hypocrisy in its differing attitude to property taxes, north and south of the Border.
“Sinn Féin need to come clean with people in the Republic to explain why they won’t pay and are encouraging others not to pay the modest charge here, while at the same time they voted to increase the household tax in Northern Ireland, which in many cases is 10 times more,” he said.
A last-minute publicity blitz has been launched in an effort to bolster the number of people registering for the charge. Most public offices of local authorities will remain open tomorrow until 4pm – and 5.30pm in some cases – to facilitate payments.
Speaking in Cork, Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte admitted the household charge campaign had not gone well and the Government would have to examine its options after the deadline passes.
The tax base had to be broadened, he said. The household charge represented a first step towards a graduated property tax that would be linked to site value, he said.
Last night the Independent TD Luke “Ming” Flanagan told a meeting in Tullamore, Co Offaly, that unions should tell local authority staff not to attend council offices in order to collect the household charge tomorrow.
PREPARED TO PAY: THE FIGURES
535,000 OR 33.3% of households had registered to pay the charge at close of business yesterday, according to figures supplied by the department headed by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan
