Labour urged to axe tax on homes

Political pressure is being put on local Labour representatives to lobby their parliamentary party to withdraw the property tax, as the Campaign Against Property Tax and Austerity (CAPTA) gets ready to find “ordinary” candidates to fight the next elections.
Mulhuddart councillor and member of the CAPTA, Matt Waine (SP) said recent public meetings by the campaign have been well received and discussions are now about changing tack a little.
“With the opinion polls and the Meath-East by-election, the message we are saying is to put pressure on the Labour Party, they are the weakest link now… we canvassed an estate where one of the local Labour Party councillors live… collecting a petition… asking people to commit and not vote for the Labour Party again if they insist on the threat of the deduction of property tax from people’s wages or welfare…there is massive anger against the Labour Party.” He called on them to “withdraw the property tax fully”.
Following a series of meetings in Dublin 15, a proposal was put to attendees on whether the campaign should “stand a slate of candidates” in the next elections, which he says has been “endorsed unanimously”.
“What they will be facing will be, for example in Dublin 15, maybe seven, eight or nine candidates and across Fingal, about 20-30 candidates. So it’s not only the fact we are not going to vote for the Labour Party, but they will also be met with an alternative on the ballot paper.
“There will be ordinary people… standing as real representatives from the community. From the feedback we are getting…we think that CAPTA could be the largest group on Fingal County Council after the next election.
“This is an important step forward for people to actually take their own future and destinies into their own hands, and that is why the campaign is less of a campaign now, it’s more of a community movement,” he added.
In a statement to The Gazette, a spokesperson for the Labour Party said that in the party’s 2011 election manifesto they “clearly supported the idea of a property tax”.
They added that Labour, along with their coalition partner “is the Government” and as a Government party they “succeeded” in making sure that 80% of the property tax will be retained by the local authorities where it is raised, and that councillors will have the power to vary the rate within a 30% range.
“As for the tactics of other groups, that’s entirely a matter for themselves. Labour is a party of solutions not slogans.
“In 2011, the people of Ireland gave us a job to do, and that was to fix the mess left behind by the previous administration. This may involve some tough decisions, but we are making progress,” the spokesperson concluded.