My Belgian water bill.

ABajaninCork

Greenman wrote: »

That sounds alot.


Then you have council tax on top of that.


Imagine if they brought that in in Ireland ???

Yup. My last council tax bill was £1100. And that was with the 25% discount given for living alone! But at least they came for the bins weekly.

That's why I view the proposed water charges and the property tax here with some amusement. If I got a council tax bill for E280 and water bill for E278, the cheque would be in the post pronto before the council or Thames Water changed their mind!!

tayto lover

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Yup. My last council tax bill was £1100. And that was with the 25% discount given for living alone! But at least they came for the bins weekly.

That's why I view the proposed water charges and the property tax here with some amusement. If I got a council tax bill for E280 and water bill for E278, the cheque would be in the post pronto before the council or Thames Water changed their mind!!

Did you have to pay to see your doctor?

ABajaninCork

tayto lover wrote: »

Did you have to pay to see your doctor?

No. I paid for my prescriptions though. And I pay for the dentist.

tayto lover

ABajaninCork wrote: »

No. I paid for my prescriptions though. And I pay for the dentist.

What else did you get for your money?

ABajaninCork

What are you talking about??

ABajaninCork

You do realise that the council tax is a local tax in the UK? It doesn't go to central government. The water is paid to whatever water company covers your area. In my case, it was Thames Water. Charges for medical expenses are covered by the NI stamp. Think it's about 9% at the moment.

Bob24

ABajaninCork wrote: »

That's why I view the proposed water charges and the property tax here with some amusement. If I got a council tax bill for E280 and water bill for E278, the cheque would be in the post pronto before the council or Thames Water changed their mind!!

I guess it is not only an Irish thing - people tend to look abroad for things which are more advantageous but prefer to conveniently ignore them when it is the other way around :-D

Out of curiosity, is there an equivalent of the local property tax in the UK and if yes what kind of amounts are we talking about?

And while I definitly support social welfare and good and afordable public services, I personally find it a huge mistake to give things like this completely free of charge rather than having a heavily subsidised tariff; it disconnects people from reality and makes them forget the service doesn't actually come free of charge for the governement, i.e. for taxpayers. It seems we are having a hard time striking the right balance: on one hand a lot of people think water should be completely free, but on the other hand everyone accepts to shell out crazy money to see their GP or even more so for their dentist, with much higher prices than EU average and no subsidy whatsoever from the governement.

AlanS181824

Just realised you're in the Dutch speaking area of Belgium so eh...

Kwak, ik ben een pinda

Michael D Not Higgins

Bob24 wrote: »

Out of curiosity, is there an equivalent of the local property tax in the UK and if yes what kind of amounts are we talking about?

There's council tax in the UK, which varies on the council area but I pay just over £900 a year on the second lowest council tax rate for Edinburgh.

There are benefits to that though. Bin and recycling collection are provided as a council service.

Bob24

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

There's council tax in the UK, which varies on the council area but I pay just over £900 a year on the second lowest council tax rate for Edinburgh.

There are benefits to that though. Bin and recycling collection are provided as a council service.

Thanks, but I am getting it wrong in saying that council tax is different from the Irish LPT as it is charged to the occupier of the property (ie to the tenant if the property is rented) whereas the Irish LPT is always charged to the owner?

I was wondering whether there is a tax on owning property? I know a number of countries on the continent have both: one tax for the occupier which is used to fund local government services and one tax for the owner which is more like a regular national tax (meaning an owner-occupier is paying two taxes).

jester77

Wow, water is very cheap in Belgium. My annual bill is more than twice that.

Michael D Not Higgins

Bob24 wrote: »

Thanks, but I am getting it wrong in saying that council tax is different from the Irish LPT as it is charged to the occupier of the property (ie to the tenant if the property is rented) whereas the Irish LPT is always charged to the owner?

I was wondering whether there is a tax on owning property? I know a number of countries on the continent have both: one tax for the occupier which is used to fund local government services and one tax for the owner which is more like a regular national tax (meaning an owner-occupier is paying two taxes).

It's effectively the same, a tax on property based on its value. Ireland just enforces it through the owner who will invariably include the costs in their rent.

I don't think there's any other tax on owning property in the UK (beyond the obvious CGT, tax on rental income, stamp duty).

dave ireland

Reading over the post here just convinces me more that water charges are for generating revenue and nothing else, not only in Ireland but everyware.

I have three 1000lt IBC tanks painted black with a filter system from a fish pond (No UV connected at the minute) there up of the ground so no pump needed for toilet & wash machine down stirs. I also have a small water butt on the shed just for the hell of it. Was in the process of pluming them in when I got a belt of hammer on the head, the hammer been the realization that I am wasting my time, both Irish water & Irish Government have made it very clear at the time that they have a €€€€€€€€ target to meet and if a short fall the price goes up & up & up.

There maybe changes to this but Im sure these are only to get their foot in your door.

All Irish governments (no matter who) have and will rip us off all day long, also Irish company's giving half a chance will rip us off. (this is not Germany, Belgian, Britain or anyware else , this is rip off Ireland)

There is only one road to go down and that is to protest for a water charge that suits people & water supply and not big money. even to just get it stoped till election year so we (people) should get a better safe arrangement that people like myself who are prepared to put time and effort into water harvesting wont be penalized.

Yes there will be another water charge but I will never pay this one based on two things

(1) I do not thrust this Government
(2) I do not thrust Irish water

We need copper fastened safeguards, thrust is gone out the window, don't mind "We wont sell off Irish water unless there is a referendum" ~? they will lease it, not sell it.

We cannot allow something that has no competition of any sort to be freelance, partially when you research the structure and personal background of the set up of Irish water.

Weather you have signed up or not makes no differences (paying through fear of not paying is not acceptance) but we must try to change this now "all of us", we must show the present government & future governments that this water charge will burn them if they try rip us off.

Have you ever seen a protest like this, this is big and there is not much point in only some of us taking to streets , the official response to this is "send in the judges,bailiffs or let them drink the rain.

We must try stop this ontill 2016 with no payments at all till then

L1011

tayto lover wrote: »

Did you have to pay to see your doctor?

Most NHS GPs now take up to a week for a routine appointment. I went private instead.

Also, council tax doesn't fund the NHS anyway, the painfully high NI contributions on wages do

mel.b

My parents are in Victoria Australia and their charges as best i can understand are:

- annual service availability charge. Depends on connection size. A 20-25mm connection is $169.02, a 32mm connection is $433.23 and a 40mm connection is $676.20. It goes right up to a 150mm connection which is $9150.60. I don't kniw what size connection they have, but imagine it would be one of the lower two.

- water usage charge - treated water $1.9546 per 1000l, untreated $1.0989 per 1000l

- wasterwater serive charge $775.29 per yr.

Water charges are not set throughout the state. A different water board charges the following
- water service charge - $108.76 per year
- water usage charge - $2.5044 per 1000l for the first 440 litres used per day, $3.0414 for 441-880 litres used per day, $3.6287 per 1000l for usage above 880l per day.
- sewerage serivce charge $379.04 per yr
- sewerage disposal charge $ 1.8271 per 1000l
That region also has a parks charge of $70.62 per yr to pay and a waterways and drainage charge cost of $93.00 per yr on top of their bills.

Ouch!

dave ireland

I know I have seen what some other places are paying for something that's not even going through your own pipes.

pixbyjohn

Greenman wrote: »

One more thing here. They are starting to seperate the toilet out and the washing water out into seperate pipes. Wonder when that will hit Ireland?

Ireland is already working on that.
From http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,2451,en.pdf
3.2 Separate Systems Some public sewers carry foul water and surface water (combined systems) in the same pipe.
All new drainage systems should be designed and constructed on the basis of a separate
system, even where draining into a combined system.

random_guy

pixbyjohn wrote: »

Ireland is already working on that.
From http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,2451,en.pdf
3.2 Separate Systems Some public sewers carry foul water and surface water (combined systems) in the same pipe.
All new drainage systems should be designed and constructed on the basis of a separate
system, even where draining into a combined system.

I think it goes a bit further in this case where water from the toilet and washhand basin/shower will be seperated again. Or at least that's my understanding of it?

Michael D Not Higgins

MYOB wrote: »

Most NHS GPs now take up to a week for a routine appointment. I went private instead.

Also, council tax doesn't fund the NHS anyway, the painfully high NI contributions on wages do

Any more painfully high than PRSI and USC?