SF claim that abolition of Water and Property Tax would Cost €8million – Pure Folly – Coffey

Fine Gael Waterford Minister Paudie Coffey has said claims from Sinn Fein that the abolition of the Property Tax and Water Charges would cost €8 million are absolute nonsense. Minister Coffey said these claims were made by the president of Sinn Fein Gerry Adams last night on the Claire Byrne Show and were wrong by the tune of roughly €1.7 billion.

“No government likes introducing taxes and no new taxes are popular with the general public; but given the economic situation the country found itself in after being bankrupted by Fianna Fail there was little option but to introduce such taxes to broaden the tax base.

“The property tax has raised some €500 million in 2014 and the running of our water services cost €1.2 billion per annum. The government has established Irish Water to remove the full cost of €1.2 billion from the taxpayer that will allow a sustainable funding model under a single utility to manage our water network.

“Deputy Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein claimed that abolishing the Water charges would cost €3 million and abolishing the local property tax would cost €5 million. It is clear that Deputy Adams is neither competent nor capable of the most basic grasp of economic figures and should not be trusted.

“It is clear that Sinn Fein is woefully out of its depth and they are now treating the public for fools. The Irish public are no fools and while nobody likes paying new taxes and charges, the public understand the need for these charges to pay for basic services.

“We know that Sinn Fein have a difficulty with the truth when it comes to its history; however it now seems to have a difficulty in explaining its current position, when it comes to taxes.

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