In March, you will receive a letter, telling you to pay a tax just for living in your own home. You will be told to respond by a 7th of May deadline and they want you to pay up by July 1st.

There are many reasons why you should oppose this tax.

1. People cannot afford to pay a tax that will average between €200 and €400 a year.
One quarter of people already have difficulty paying mortgages. Child benefit has been cut. How much more can we take?

2. The government has no mandate to introduce this tax. The Fine Gael Manifesto said that a ‘recurring residential property tax on the family home is unfair’. Lying to the electorate has to stop.

3. The money will only be used to pay off bankers and bondholders. There will be no improvement in local services – it will be squandered on the bank bail out.

4. Once you start paying, it will keep on increasing. In the first year, you pay half the rate – but that is only to sucker you in. It will rise to between €500 and €800 in subsequent years.

RESIST

A huge campaign is already under way to resist this tax. If we stick together, we can defeat the government. To help the fight against this tax you can do the following things:

-Attend a local meeting where we will spell out a strategy for fighting this tax – that will have minimal cost for everyone involved. It involves boycott, civil disobedience and action from the unions.

-Boycott any registration or communication.

-Join the Anti-Property Tax contingent on the Irish Congress of Trade Union march on Sat 9th Feb. Marches against austerity will take place in Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Galway- we should turn this into a show of opposition to the Property Tax.

-Call for a mass assembly of all campaigns that chooses a day of action where we engage in mass peaceful civil disobedience.

If you agree and want to join the socialists text JOIN to 0863074060