The debate on the property tax makes little sense.
On the Late Late Show on Friday, the woman representing the Irish Property Owners Association was also opposed to it. I thought she and Luke Flanagan made an interesting pair.
It was the same at the attempted eviction in Laois a couple of months ago where you had ULA members standing behind people spouting Freeman libertarian nonsense.
So on the one hand you have people wanting more state control allying themselves with people who want minimal state involvment.
Dumb and Dumber spring to mind!
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That's a great article by Bill Tormey, especially regarding loyalty to the State. Thanks for posting it.
Just to be clear. While the Sheriff walked away that day, they came back some days later and effected the eviction. From listening to the guys on the radio at the time, you would get the impression that they had a legal case, which of course, they didn't.
To be fair to the socialists who oppose this tax, their opposition is based on the "one size fits all" nature of the current charge rather than the notion of a fair property tax. However, they retain the notion of a tax applicable only on an "affordable" basis, which to my mind somewhat underminds the rationale of a "wealth tax". It is somewhat picky and choosy.
It's very unusual for any politician to be so frank:
Now that they are in government Labour and Fine Gael are following orthodox policies but in opposition not so long ago they too opposed property taxes and virtually everything else that was suggested to get the State out of its current mess.
Good article. It's a sad state of affairs when those with right wing leanings are trying to convince Ming & Co. that property taxes are needed to avoid severe cuts to the social protection budget.
I'm convinced the resistance to such taxes will only lead in one direction and that's massive public spending cuts. To be honest maybe that's what we need to give people a wake up call.
It's clear that the majority don't have any appreciation of the future consequences of the annual deficits we are running.