Higgins recalls Kenny calling property charge 'vampire tax'

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny and Socialist leader Joe Higgins clashed in the Dáil over comments Mr Higgins said Mr Kenny had made condemning property charges as a “vampire tax”.

But the Taoiseach hit back and said Mr Higgins’s party was the only socialist grouping in Europe that did not want or agree with some form of property tax and that he appeared to have a philosophy that “nobody should do anything or pay for anything in this country”.

Amid persistent backbench heckling during Leaders’ Questions Mr Higgins said Mr Kenny had told the Dáil in 1994 that it was “morally unjust and unfair” to tax a person’s home and he likened such a charge to a “vampire tax in that it drives a stake through the heart of home ownership . . . and sucks the life blood of people who want to own their own home and better their position”.

The Dublin West TD said large numbers of people were turning out at meetings across the State to demand withdrawal of the Government’s household charge and related taxes.

As Government TDs heckled him, Mr Higgins asked if the Taoiseach’s deputies were bringing to his attention the growing anger of ordinary people who had the burden of “salvaging the European financial market system” and now had an extra burden that “they know will be €1,000 and beyond in home tax, septic tank taxes and water levies”.

He claimed the Taoiseach would face a “boycott and mass non-registration” for the tax by St Patrick’s Day and this would be “the ordinary people’s self-made referendum on the Taoiseach’s austerity policy”.

But Mr Kenny said 72,000 people had already registered to pay the household charge. He added that there were 200,000 households exempt from the tax. Pointing out that “every socialist party in Europe” with the exception of Mr Higgins wanted and agreed with some form of property tax the Taoiseach said people used to pay rates for water and refuse charges.

Mr Kenny said that the household charge which would amount to €2 a week would go to provide essential services such as footpaths, lighting, libraries and other facilities.