Eu Neo-Liberal Policies To Mean VAT On On Council Services From July.
In a statement the People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA) has condemned a recent ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which means that VAT will now be imposed on all local authority services for which there is a charge.
The PBPA statement follows a recent meeting of the Dublin City Council Finance Special Policy Committee, (SPC) where it was revealed that a case taken by the EU commission to the ECJ on the issue of Ireland’s failure to impose VAT on publicly provided services would mean VAT would have to be imposed on such services from now on.
The meeting revealed that local authorities are currently working with the revenue commissioners, compiling a list of Council services where VAT would be applied. It is intended that any changes in VAT law resulting from the Judgement will be brought forward in March/April in the Finance Bill 2010 with a likely implementation date of July 2010.
PBPA said that “the chickens are coming home to roost on Ireland’s decision to sign up to EU treaties that enshrine neo-liberal economic policy” – requiring that any publicly provided service for which there is a charge and which may be subject to competition must now be subject to the same VAT as that imposed on private sector providers of the same service.
The ECJ ruling means that bin charges, water charges, entry fees to public swimming pools and any other service provided by local authorities for which there is a charge will now be increased by either 13% or 21% later this year.
The logic of the ruling was that VAT may well now also be imposed on a whole range of other services provided by other government or state-owned bodies.
PBPA said the imposition of VAT on public services provided by the local authorities was proof positive that the economic policies enshrined in EU treaties led directly on to the undermining public services and increased taxes as NO campaigners had warned during the recent referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Councillor Joan Collins of Dublin City Council said:
“The dramatic increase in charges for local public services will be another kick in the teeth for the less well-off in society who had already been hammered with pay cuts, levies and welfare cuts in the recent budgets. This ECJ ruling spells further disaster for working people and the less well-off who have already been slaughtered with cuts and levies and who now will be faced with dramatic increases in bin charges, charges for public swimming and sports facilities and, of course, the water charges the government plan to introduce.”
Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown Council said:
“The chickens have come home to roost on the decision of the political establishment to dragoon the Irish public into signing up to neo-liberal EU treaties such as Lisbon. We were pilloried for claiming that the EU economic policies enshrined in Lisbon would lead to the undermining of our public services and higher taxes. Now the truth of what we said is being revealed and the least well-off in our society will have to pay the price.
We have no idea where the ramifications of all this will stop. If local authorities are being forced to impose VAT on services they provide, then presumably this will also be the case for any service provided by the state, where a case can be made that competition rules should apply.”
