So the expert body are suggesting:
- every household gets a water allowance at no cost
- only excessive use might attract a charge
- the provision of water services is funded out of general taxation
- we might have a single utility or revert to local authorities providing water services ( FF proposal)
- those who lawfully paid the water tax might get a refund so as to level the playing field with those who refused to pay
So the FF stance now is to revert to local authorities providing the service with the State providing the necessary funds to maintain and improve the water services system. This is what we have had for some 80 years and the result was decades of under - funding, resulting is leakages, boil water notices, no conservation of a valuable resource etc etc. We know that when it comes to long term planning (and funding) that politicians of all colours cannot see beyond the next election. So reverting to the previously failed system is hardly a solution. The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
So the Anti Everything Alliance and the People Who Never Made Any Profit are already polishing their walking shoes. Any excuse to protest, any excuse to oppose. So Paul Murphy, Brendan Ogle etc etc are quite happy that taxpayers should pay for those with private swimming pools, those who water their gardens, those who wash their cars daily etc.
And should any future government decide to increase PAYE or USC so as to fund water services, guess what - Murphy, Ogle et al will oppose that too. These are the politicians who want increases in health expenditure, increases in education services, increases in public service salaries but no increase in taxation (other than for the "wealthy" of course).
And sadly a certain section of the population seems to be falling for this "Disney Economics".
The problem with democracy is that there is no accounting for the deluded.
- every household gets a water allowance at no cost
- only excessive use might attract a charge
- the provision of water services is funded out of general taxation
- we might have a single utility or revert to local authorities providing water services ( FF proposal)
- those who lawfully paid the water tax might get a refund so as to level the playing field with those who refused to pay
So the FF stance now is to revert to local authorities providing the service with the State providing the necessary funds to maintain and improve the water services system. This is what we have had for some 80 years and the result was decades of under - funding, resulting is leakages, boil water notices, no conservation of a valuable resource etc etc. We know that when it comes to long term planning (and funding) that politicians of all colours cannot see beyond the next election. So reverting to the previously failed system is hardly a solution. The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
So the Anti Everything Alliance and the People Who Never Made Any Profit are already polishing their walking shoes. Any excuse to protest, any excuse to oppose. So Paul Murphy, Brendan Ogle etc etc are quite happy that taxpayers should pay for those with private swimming pools, those who water their gardens, those who wash their cars daily etc.
And should any future government decide to increase PAYE or USC so as to fund water services, guess what - Murphy, Ogle et al will oppose that too. These are the politicians who want increases in health expenditure, increases in education services, increases in public service salaries but no increase in taxation (other than for the "wealthy" of course).
And sadly a certain section of the population seems to be falling for this "Disney Economics".
The problem with democracy is that there is no accounting for the deluded.
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