And you think your government are intrusive....

Money may be taken from accounts

Stark plans to remove cash forcibly from people's bank accounts and benefits if they refuse to pay the controversial household tax are being drawn up by the Government, it can be revealed.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan said changes this year to legislation introduced two years ago will allow the State to seek court approval to "deduct from source" fines and penalties incurred by the late or non-payment of the 100 euro charge - yet to be paid by the vast majority of citizens.

Furthermore, the Fine Gael minister said fines - which could mount into hundreds of euro after a year - could be taken directly from people's pay packets and bank accounts.

"We will have legislation that will allow a court to, in certain circumstances, allow the State to deduct from source," said Mr Hogan.

Hundreds of thousands of householders have so far not paid the charge, against the backdrop of a campaign against it led by several left-wing TDs.

Protesters have claimed they would rather go to court and jail than pay the fee, but the new legislation seeks to prevent that.

Latest figures show that only 15% - some 251,458 of the 1.6 million liable for the charge - have registered.

Those who fail to do so by the March 31 deadline have been warned they could face a fine between 1,000 and 2,500 euro.

They will also accumulate late-payment penalties, building interest fees of 1% (of the 100 euro) per month for six months after the deadline date, which will rise to 10% per month between six months and a year after the date, and 30% per month after the first year.

Opposition TDs have made numerous calls for the Government to scrap the charge, arguing that a flat rate is unfair and that the wealthy should be taxed instead.

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/money-may-be-taken-from-accounts-3054306.html

Eat the rich. I've heard that before. Lol!

Well....no one likes taxes. And you guys are getting hit hard imo. But shifting the burden onto the rich? Is that the answer?

See? We're having that debate here as well. Democrats liberals progressives and communists all want to make our wealthy pay for everything. They want to create a nanny state here and make the wealthy pay for it. Problem is that it is the wealthy who create jobs. (I never heard of a poor man creating employment opportunities for others). And our unemployment nationally is, i think, around 8 or 9%. (Yours is 14%!).

So if we tax our wealthy to death, who will create jobs for us?

I favor a flat tax structure. Maybe 20% across the board for people making o ver a certain amount (maybe 50 thousand per year). Everyone pays the same tax rate, but the wealthy, because of their income, would naturally wind up paying more than the average Joe.

As for raiding you bank account....if you dont pay your bills, the IRS or banks here will place a lein against you and force you to pay.

Dennis324 wrote:Eat the rich. I've heard that before. Lol!

Well....no one likes taxes. And you guys are getting hit hard imo. But shifting the burden onto the rich? Is that the answer?

Where did you get raiding the rich out of this? This is a flat €100 "tax" that everyone in the country who owns a house has to pay, regardless of their income/status or what size the house is. So, if you're a multi-millionaire with a 10-bedroom mansion, you're paying €100. If you're recently unemployed and already behind on your mortgage that you got during the boom times on your 2-bedroom house, you're paying €100 which you probably can't afford at this stage. What has people's backs up over this isn't so much that you're paying it, it's that it's inequitable.

So if we tax our wealthy to death, who will create jobs for us?

The wealthy will never be taxed "to death", they have smart accountants and lawyers and lobbyists to make sure that will never happen. The only people who will get taxed to death are the small ppl who are suffering already thanks to the bust and can't move their assets to the caymans or switzerland because they don't have any assets, they're barely putting food on the table. If the rich are so scared about getting taxed too much, why are the likes of Warren Buffett coming out and saying that they're not being taxed enough? And as for the "wealthy creating jobs" bit, for every Bill Gates or Steve Jobs who created something new that generated jobs there are a dozen Goldman Sachs CEOs who got rich by manipulating the markets and quiet probably cost jobs along the way through layoffs, mergers and acquisitions. And please, please don't mention "trickle down economics", is a tax-avoidance pyramid scheme for rich people.

I favor a flat tax structure. Maybe 20% across the board for people making o ver a certain amount (maybe 50 thousand per year). Everyone pays the same tax rate, but the wealthy, because of their income, would naturally wind up paying more than the average Joe.

Here's a better idea. leave the tax brackets as they are but eliminate all the loopholes and tax breaks. So, if you're supposed to be in the 33%(?) tax bracket, you're paying the 33%, you're not squirrelling your money away somewhere that your accountant has told you the govt can't touch it.

As for raiding you bank account....if you dont pay your bills, the IRS or banks here will place a lein against you and force you to pay.

That's different - a lien as far as I can see means "before you pay anyone else anything you have to pay us first". So, you have to pay it when you can pay, but the onus is still on you (the account holder) to hand over the cash - they can't just come in and take it (unless you're bankrupt and/or in receivership). What the govt here are talking about is me waking up tomorrow morning, checking my bank balance and finding it €100 short because they've come in, raided my account and taken the money. Not really a precedent you really want to have set.....

[quote="Miles1"]
Where did you get raiding the rich out of this? This is a flat €100 "tax" that everyone in the country who owns a house has to pay, regardless of their income/status or what size the house is. So, if you're a multi-millionaire with a 10-bedroom mansion, you're paying €100. If you're recently unemployed and already behind on your mortgage that you got during the boom times on your 2-bedroom house, you're paying €100 which you probably can't afford at this stage. What has people's backs up over this isn't so much that you're paying it, it's that it's inequitable. [/quote ]Ok I get ya. That sounds more like our property taxes. And we dont like em either. However I think our tax is based upon how much your property/home/land is valued at. Fortunately if you are a senior citizen, you are exempt.

Miles1 wrote:The wealthy will never be taxed "to death", they have smart accountants and lawyers and lobbyists to make sure that will never happen. The only people who will get taxed to death are the small ppl who are suffering already thanks to the bust and can't move their assets to the caymans or switzerland because they don't have any assets, they're barely putting food on the table. If the rich are so scared about getting taxed too much, why are the likes of Warren Buffett coming out and saying that they're not being taxed enough? And as for the "wealthy creating jobs" bit, for every Bill Gates or Steve Jobs who created something new that generated jobs there are a dozen Goldman Sachs CEOs who got rich by manipulating the markets and quiet probably cost jobs along the way through layoffs, mergers and acquisitions. And please, please don't mention "trickle down economics", is a tax-avoidance pyramid scheme for rich people.

If the wealthy dont create the jobs...who does? As for the taxes here, fact is that most poor folks here dont actually pay an income tax. At all. We do pay sales taxes,and our paychecks are taxed, but most here get tax refunds at the end of thje year. But if your income increases and you move into a higher tax bracket, you dont get those refunds. Yes, the super rich do know how to get their accountants to exploit loopholes (the corporate giant GE didnt pay anything in taxes last year), but there are lots of folks who, by a poor man's standards, would be considered wealthy, and they normally do create jobs. These people should be allowed room to be able to create these jobs without worrying about paying higher taxes.

Miles1 wrote:
Here's a better idea. leave the tax brackets as they are but eliminate all the loopholes and tax breaks. So, if you're supposed to be in the 33%(?) tax bracket, you're paying the 33%, you're not squirrelling your money away somewhere that your accountant has told you the govt can't touch it.

Thats a good idea. I fa vor elimination of most of those loopholes too. But I still favor the flat tax. ITs fair. IT also eliminates the worry that people have that the rich arent paying their fair share, because with the flat tax, they would have to pay. And furthermore...poor folks like we have talked about probably wouldnt have any tax to pay at all. A flat tax would also eliminate the need to take money out of our paychecks every month, plus probably eliminate any sales / consumption tax. More money in our pockets.

Miles1 wrote:
That's different - a lien as far as I can see means "before you pay anyone else anything you have to pay us first". So, you have to pay it when you can pay, but the onus is still on you (the account holder) to hand over the cash - they can't just come in and take it (unless you're bankrupt and/or in receivership). What the govt here are talking about is me waking up tomorrow morning, checking my bank balance and finding it €100 short because they've come in, raided my account and taken the money. Not really a precedent you really want to have set.....

Yeah, I'd be angry about that too. The IRS here will do that too if you are behind on your taxes.