THE Revenue Commissioners have made weekly deductions from the wages of a Limerick nurse for non-payment of the local property tax, despite the fact that she has never owned a house.
More than €200 was deducted from the Limerick woman’s wages before she discovered she was paying property tax on the apartment she is renting in the city. The woman pays rent to an agency each week but has no idea who are the registered owners of the property.
Speaking on the nurse’s behalf, Labour Party city councillor Joe Leddin said she assumed the property was registered in the owner’s name and that all relevant information regarding the apartment was freely available to the Revenue Commissioners.
“When she discovered that the money was being taken from her wages, she approached her employer who informed her that the Revenue Commissioners instructed them to make the deductions and they had no option but to comply.”
“How could this happen? The woman didn’t sign anything or receive any correspondence from Revenue regarding the deductions and, in fact, she thought they were some new kind of tax until she discovered what LPT was,” said Cllr Leddin.
Once the woman’s situation was explained to Revenue, they agreed she would receive a full refund of all monies paid. However, Cllr Leddin said it was strange that something like this could happen and he is now calling on Revenue to investigate the matter.
“I am at a loss to understand how the Revenue Commissioners can simply decide to deduct money from someone’s wages without first being satisfied that the person concerned is the owner of the property. A simple search would have revealed the name of the owner and an injustice to the tenant would have been avoided.
“The Revenue are quick to impose interest and penalties on unpaid balances but I do not suppose any compensation, apart from the money deducted, will be forthcoming as a result of this very strange case,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA) has condemned what they call the “bullyboy” tactics being used by the Government to collect the property tax, and claimed that the Revenue Commissioners are “threatening people in Limerick who do not even own a home”.
AAA candidate Paul Keller believes the “fresh pursuit” of the outstanding household and property taxes over the next six weeks and beyond will further enrage people who are already bristling with anger over the scandals surrounding the start up of Irish Water.
“The Government speaks with a forked tongue when it talks up the possibility of tax cuts in next October’s budget, which won’t benefit the low paid one jot, when many people this year are being chased for three separate regressive taxes,” said Mr Keller.
