Withdrawing Household Charge action ‘does not set precedent’

A decision to withdraw a legal action against a builder who did not register for the Household Charge does not set a precedent, according to Mayo’s county manager.

Charges against Westport-based builder Tony Keegan for failing to make a declaration to pay the household tax were withdrawn at a sitting of Westport District Court on March 5th.

Mayo County Council was the first local authority to take a case to court over the charge, following summonses issued in relation to six units owned by Mr Keegan, at Crannóg House, The Quay, Westport in October 2012.

Mr Keegan contested the charges, and a challenge over the tax's constitutionality was brought before the High Court in 2013.

The challenge was struck out, but another was then initiated by Acorn to Oak Communications plc, which was set up by the Attack the Tax campaign group. Mr Keegan is a party to this action.

Mayo County Council solicitor Ward McEllin referred to this case “languishing in the Supreme Court”.

The court heard Mayo County Council was withdrawing its legal action as legislation had overtaken proceedings and it was a matter for the Revenue Commissioners to pursue.

County manager Peter Hynes told The Irish Times that Revenue had advised the local authority it would not set a precedent by withdrawing.

Revenue assumed responsibility for collecting the Household Charge, which has now been replaced by the Local Property Tax, in July 2013, when all outstanding liabilities increased from €100 to €200.

Cllr Frank Durcan (Ind) has asked why the decision by the council not to pursue the case against Mr Keegan was only taken now, exposing the council to extra legal expense.

Mr Keegan, who represented himself in the proceedings, told The Irish Times he didn't wish to make any comment.

The Department of the Environment said it was not aware of any similar case before the courts.

Compliance campaign

The Revenue Commissioners said no cases were referred by it “through solicitor action through the courts or attachment” and it was continuing its “compliance” campaign to collect outstanding charges.

In February, Revenue reported that more than 67,000 mandatory deductions had been made from wages or pensions for unpaid Local Property Tax.

It said total compliance rates for 2013 and 2014 stood at 95 per cent. There was an 84 per cent compliance rate to date for 2015.

As part of the handover, Revenue said a Household Charge database was received from the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA).

It said it carried out a comprehensive data-matching exercise with its own Local Property Tax register.

Once unpaid cases were identified, a compliance campaign was initiated with a six-week window, as it could not be certain the “unpaid” list was fully accurate due to the format of the information held on the LGMA database.

Since then, Revenue said, about €41 million of Household Charge arrears had been paid: €2 million in 2013, €36 million in 2014 and €3 million to date in 2015.

This meant some 269,000 additional properties were now compliant since July 2013, including about 44,500 mandatory deduction-at-source cases and 7,000 deferrals.