Property & Water charges in 2012

It is now almost certain that flat rate property and water charges will be implemented in Budget 2012.

The water tax (or 'utility charge' as minister Phil Hogan is calling it) will be flat at somewhere between €150 and €200 per household. The revenue arising from this will be used to install water meters countrywide so in future the charge will be levied on a pay per use basis with some threshold of free water for each household.

Property tax will also be flat at around €100, irrespective of weather your house is a mansion or a maisonette. This will be replaced in due course with a property specific 'site value tax'.

Taxing people on a flat rate basis is regressive so why do it like this? Well both of these measures are outlined as necessities in the IMF/EU bailout, this is simply the cheapest and fastest way for the government to introduce them.

The always excellent Professor Morgan Kelly give an insight into the bailout in today's Irish times, http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0507/1224296372123.html .