Cllr.

Samie Morris says that We were sold a pig in a poke on Property Tax

It has always been my contention that the people of Tipperary were being lied to all along in regards the Property tax being used to fund local services. In fact North Tipperary county council website still shows the fairytale headline Household charge Funding your local services The recent announcement that the money generated by the local property tax will not go back into local areas is scandalous but not surprising from a Government that is so desperate for cash for Bondholders that it is willing to steal it from its citizens. When the property tax was introduced Fine Gael and Labour justified it as a revenue generating measure for the funding of local services. However it has now been made clear by various government representatives including Minister Hogan that finance generated by the tax will not go back into the localities in which it was raised. We are now seeing what I have been saying for some time about the property tax. Originally 80% of the amount raised was supposed to be ring fenced for local authorities. We were sold a pig in a poke when Phil Hogan with much fanfare unveiled it as being a solution to the crumbling of our local services. The fact that the money is going to be appropriated by our central government is scandalous but unsurprising. In fact our crumbling local services have crumbled even further since the Household charge/Property tax was imposed by this Government with Water and Sewerage services transferred to the latest Quango called Irish Water which will be nothing less than a retirement home for ex County managers , the Drivers License section appropriated by the N R A and Local area offices closing in Borrisokane, Roscrea, Newport , Cashel, Templemore and Cahir making a laugh out of the people that were forced and coerced into paying the property tax. In fact the property tax is due to cost North Tipperary up to 90,000 euros for payment for our own council housing stock in Property tax means even less money for local services in our budget this year. When I brought this up at our council meeting today there was much head scratching amongst the Austerity dealers support network comprising of Fine Gael and Labour councillors who havent quite figured out that they were conned indeed Cllr. Pauline Coonan answer was to try to diver t attention away from my questions today and ramble on about exiting the bailout and having a go at Gerry Adams, some responsible representation for the people that elected her. I will unfortunately have been proven right on the Household Charge and Property tax as it is nothing more than a credit line for the Vulture Capitalists that have raped this country leaving huge debts around the necks of the Irish people for generations to come. Yours sincerely Cllr. Samie Morris 18/11/13