Madam, – I am an Irish citizen who has lived and worked in the UK for more than 30 years. I am now retired on a British pension. I own a holiday home in my native county which I bought from my mother. Recently, by word of mouth in Glasgow, I discovered that the Irish Government had introduced a tax on second homes. Having established that I am liable for this tax, I sent a cheque for €400 in payment for 2009 and 2010 to the county council.
I was astonished to have the cheque returned to me and to be told that I owed a further €380 because of late payment of a tax about which I knew nothing and for which I had received no demand.
How was I supposed know about this tax? Had I known, I would have paid immediately. It seems that the longer the uninformed non-resident is ignorant, the more money can be extracted in a deeply unjust and cynical exercise on the part of the Government.
It is unbelievable that I, as a pensioner who would have been quite happy to pay the tax if notified, should be threatened with criminal proceedings at a time when one reads daily of the enormous amounts of money owed by property developers and bankers, who appear to be immune from prosecution.
To what depths has my country sunk? – Yours, etc,