Soak the Rich

SOAK THE RICH

es Trerec fighting the

WATER TAX...

.part of the awemer} FIGHTBACK by JOE HARRINGTON & PAT O’CONNOR

DOAK 2) uel eon aaiahel 4s Ireland has never achieved political independence in the sense that our national revolution was left unfinished it would be impossible for any government to build an economy which would be independent of outside economic interests, or more specifically, the interests of our political masters - British imperialism and its close ally, the U.S. Ina capitalist 26 Counties the imposition of exorbitant taxes is inevitable.

Private enterprise cannot adequately develop the wealth creating resources of the country and those that are developed are retarded by the needs of the few property owners to put profit before people's needs, Without sufficient imput to the national treasury from the wealth producers such as industry and agriculture, public services can only be maintained by penal levels of tax on working class people, Since the foundation of the 26 rounsy State several attempts have been made to industrialise the economy, he period of protectionism produced the clothing, footwear and meat processing industries, But protectionism was introduced for the benefit of one sector of the Irish capitalists, not the workers and small farmers aid eventually proved incapable of laying the basis for a modern capitalist economy, So when protectionism ran out of steam the Lemass.years began with the dismantling of these industries as EEC membership, along with the dropping of tariffs, saw the opening up of a weak economy to the lucrative interests of wealthy multi-nationals. Without ever linking into and helping to develop the economy these companies have benefites greatly from grants and low taxes etc. All of them can and have packed up and gone overnight, It is on this type of economic activity that our future is being planned, The basis of the Coalition's 3 year plan "Building on Reality" is "export led growth" through these multi-nationals. It was recently exposed that this optimism was founded on statistice which have been distorted by "csransfer pricing". This is achieved by the parent company selbing raw materials to the Irish subsidiary at ridiculously low prices. The Irish branch then sells the finished product at phenominally high prices which artifically inflate Irish export figures. Of course the multi-national cuts down on its tax bills by this policy.

“owever, Irish workers tax bills receive no such concessions. It is precisely because of this policy that taxes have been so high for PAYE workers, It is the dilemma of pleasing the electorate while also pursuing a policy of benovolence to the multi-nationals that has led the government to introduce underhand taxation in the form of local service charges. This is why they should be rejected in the same way as hikes in PaYE/PRSI rates have been resisted, In this short pamphlet we give our ideas on how to fight the Water Tax and other local service charges and cuts, But one thing is for sure trying to solve the crisis of the Irish economy without challenging imperialist domination of our country is a waste of time, Nov '84 (1)

Cutbacks. Over recent years Perret thousands of Local \uthority jobs have Fighting. the 9 rs been lost through redundancies er aie a and natural wastage. Inevitably, NEN | I-|R Vas pare have also been severely d Bits 1 typical example is Limerick City where refuse collection has been cutback from twice to once the a week and where Maintenance and Cleansing staff numbers have been oN i Relea : greatly reduced, Local Authority ousing Programmes have fallen ‘onan ta — | oF far short of projections, In Ke iG | RAC \ Limerick, again as an example, over 1,000 y ung couples languish on the housing list, Long before serious cutbacks took place in the more sensitive areas of Health and Education Local Authorities were receiving less and less money, in real terms, from the National Treasury each year. By the early '80s it was clear that any further cuts would lead to total breakdowns in Corporation and County Council services, Business organisations pushed for the privatisation of Cleansing and ligintenance services, Jn the face of massive discontent at the level of PaYE taxes any substantial increases in that area were out of the question, The last Fianna fail Government (in its "The Way Forward '82") eventually opted for a local tax or service charge. However, before it could implement the necessary legislation it was replaced by the present Coalition Government. mares In his 1983 Budget speech, Alan Dukes announced the Coalition's intention to introduce 90% of all taxes legislation enabling Local Authorities to collected come raise about £65m in new and increased service from the PAYE charges. Labour politicians justified their sector, support for these local taxes on the grounds that they gave more independence to Local luthorities thereby promoting local democracy! City and Sounty Managers were given the power to levy over the heads of elected representatives, The charges .were to be included in the Annual Estimates which, if not adopted, could lead to the dismissal of City and County Councils, Labour Party Statement Nov '82, A burning issue. The earliest ot he ee — resistance to the "The Labour Party is totally Service Charges opposed to the re-introduction came from the Limerick Council of of Domestic Rates in full and Trade Unions and the Southill Tenants the proposed charges for and Residents Association who, specific domestic services together with Ballinacurra Gardens such as refuse collection, and Lee Estate residents addressed sewerage and sanitary services, the September '82 meeting of the City water and planning as Council, The delegation was told by outlined by Fianna Fail." Mayer Bromell that it showld offer alternative ways of raising the Yes, Labour can break elsction necessary money to bridge the promises with the best of them. shortfall in the Government allocat ~ ion, This advice ignored the fact that trade unionists have, for years, been offering a solution - Tax the Rich, Thinking up new taxes to be.1lévied on themsaélives‘is.nét (2) Cae = O42 <¢e;

not the duty of Trade Unionsist, When the Water Charge was introduced in late One rule for the Rich, | 1985, practically every councillor and TD decried them, 4t local area mass meetings On Feb 28 '84, Mayor .the elected representatives expressed oppos- Terry Kelly became the ‘ition to the levies, One of the first and first Limerick City largest of those meetings took place in the Councillor to call for Southill Community Hall. This meeting of the payment of Water over 400 people unanimously rejected the Tax.

Water Levy and decided to publicly burn the "We must all demand notices outside the Town Hall. learn to pay for services", she told This exemplary action caught the the Limerick Chamber imagination of people city, and indeed, of Commerce, countrywide, his dramatic and determined action got the campaign against the Water She didn't mention the Tax off to a good start, £$ million owed to Limerick Corporation The Limerick Leader Chapel of the NGA in back rates by those came out against the levy "in the sure ; Same business people, knowledge that it is but the first step in the re-introduction of household rates," \ Limerick Leader Editorial under the headline, "Stop the Water Levy" advised the Corporation to "go back to the drawing board." Various union branches passed resolutions condemning the charges, The Limerick Council of Trade Unions called on the ICTU "to make a national issue of charges for local services," PRO of the Southill issociation, Dail protest. In November '83, Joe Harrington described the we |) ON Che. Gey atter charges as a tax con-trich (Oct 5) the TDs had voted themselves a 19% pay rise, a "Our griev anne is not so much pace bar representing most of with Limerick Corporation as the City's larger estates and with a Government who are trying some outlying towns traveled to to bring in a tax increase Dublin to picket the Dail.

dressed up as a Water Charge. 1,500 demand notices were burned It's just a sneaky vay of hitting at the gates of Leinster House the PAYE earner again," and the deputation met Ruairi recs ection ions acta ol acta lpg eM ea Bnd Quinn who told them that "People accepted the charges" ! Asit afterwards turned out not even his own party accepted the charges as was shown by the passing of a motion at the 1984 Labour Party Conference conderming the Levy. Of course, that hasn't stopped the Latour TDs backing the Service Charges, In March '84 the Corporation issued Local suthority tenants and residents with Water Tax Books. By this time many old Tenants and Residents Groups had been revitlaised and others formed, the Water Tax Books met the same fate as the demand notiess,.. More smoke outside the Town Hall.

It is this sort of militancy and determination that has made the Water Tax largely unenforcable in Limerick or in any part of the country, The latest figures issued by Limerick Corporation (Oct 2) shows that after 12 months only 26% of the Levy has been collected.

Councillors Sell-out, In sharp contrast to the courage of those who Bias refuse to pay is the spineless stance of the politicians, When it was first mooted practically all Limerick City Comcillors spoke out against the £50 levy. ‘Some even took part in the big protest march. However, as time went by they began to backtrack one by one, By October '84, when over 100 people picketed the Courthouse in protest at the first prosecution of a Water (3) ey

Tax defaulter, the only Youncillor to attend was Jim Kemmy.

\pparently, many Councillors were willing to do the popular thing at the time and encouraged people not to pay but when the chips were down they deserted their constituents, One of the reasons why some people for all it's worth, have paid up is explained by the partial collapse of the campaign in areas at the end of '83, Willie where Tenants and Community Gre ige O'Dea signed the following ere led by people under the influence petition.

or direction of the Major parties, "T pledge that I will However, despite the betrayals of the refuse to pay the £50 politicians and their associates the Water Tax and will do all campaign has held its ground. The in my power both at local National Association of Tenant and national level to have Organisation's Annual Convention at the the relevent Act rescinded end of September was attended by and will refuse to delegates from over 20 Counties, The co-operate in any way with average age of the participants was Local authorities in this half that of previous years reflecting issue", the new and youthful forces drawn into the anti-Service Charges Campaign, Limerick Echo iapril '21 '84 | Willie O'Deg "confirmed this week that he will New Challenges. The Campaign now probably pay up shortly.

_ lh RCS two Challenges, The Government has Echo, May 12 '84 now decided to push ahead and drag "Willie O'Dea is to give thousands through the Courts on this his £50 Water Tax to issue, ‘his sort of intimidation Charity..."

hasn't had the desired effect. In fact it has sparked the only process that Willie 0'Deg did not can defeat the Service Charges i.e, support the Yourthouse active union involvement, Waterford | picket on Oct 2, led the way in this regard when over 500 Waterford Glass trade unionists helped form a 700 strong picket at the local Courthouse during the hearing of a cre against a Water Tax defaulter in mid October, The Limer ick Courthouse picket of October 2 was supported by representatives of the Trades Council, the ITGVU, the Plasterers and many smaller unions, This sort of involvement by trade unions must now be built upon and extended, Mass picketing may not sway the judge's verdict but ‘Union Support. | twill strengthen the determination of those in Court and show the . Both the Fitters and Plummers politicians that this unfair double ‘Unions have given undertakings tax is a matter of concern to all.

| that their members will refuse to co-operate with any attempts The second challenge facing the ‘by Local Authorities to cut campaign comes from the recently ioff water supplies and will announced National Plan, In outlinlassict in recomnecting any ing the Plan, Garret Fitzgerald isupr.y that is cut off by scabs announced massive cutbacks in the ‘oY biacklegs, funding of Local juthorities from ! national taxes. Corporations and County Councils are directed to make up the shortfall °Y the imposition of further and increased local Service Charges. itrverald made much of the fact that the National Plan proposes no increase in PaYE taxation. Yot, the biggest ever jump in ths taxation of working class people is pro‘,0sed to take place over the next two years, It is to be collected at ;.ocal level but that doesn't take it any less a tax, (4) Zig-Zag.... or playing it

The silence of our wion leaders on this glaring fact is ot aes Yet they talk about the burden of tax on the PAYE worker, w Can a fair taxation system for the PAYE worker ever be won if this blatent case of double taxation isn't confronted by the Trade union movement?

The best way of ensuring that our union leaders make Water Tax a national issue (as the Limerick Council of Trade Unions has correctly called on the ICTU to do) is not simply by passing resolutions to this effect but by action at local level. this one, the wnion leaders will have to be forced into line by the rank The most impressive and effective aspects of the campaign to date has been the occasions of mass direct action. 1s a revolutionary socialist organisation, Peoples Democracy (P.D.) believes that this must continue to be the stratagy of the campaign. Any dependence on paper resolutions, individual heroism or leggl technicalities would be disasterous. We believe that the broad and deepest involvement of the people on their own behalf is the only guarantee of victory. Tax the Rich, — parties, {Direct action will wn, | (1) No illusions in Courtroom justice, (2) Build mass pickets of Courts, Town Halls ete when Water Tax cases are being heard, (3) Campaign in the unions for action in support of anyone who i8 penalised for refusing to pay this unjust double tax, { Make the fight against the water tax part of the overall fightback against the austerity policies of the major The Service Charges is just one aspect of the cutbacks and attacks being made on the living standards of working class people arising from the failure of successive government's to Tax the Rich, Ce a BranchwoL ane) « Ee eour hr Don't pay the Water Tax - Soak the rich instead, rr This pamphlet has been produced by the Limerick ~ Peoples Democracy - an all-Ireland revolutionary socialist organisation which grew out of the mass struggle for Civil Rights in the six counties in the late sixties, We believe :- ~ That the cuts and repression are gall inevitable products of capitalism and it is only when working people take control of their own lives and create qa society where people are put before profit that these things will disappear, Such a new society is socialism, -~ That the decisive prop and defender of capitalism in Ireland is Britian and that Ireland is dominated by Imperialism.

Thus socialism in Ireland is inseperable from a United Ireland and British withdrawal.

- That it is only the working class which can defeat Imperialism md ereate socialism, Therefore we must fight to unite the Irish working class North and South, protestant and catholic, and oppose British Imperialism which seeks to divide workers by sectarianism, - That the working class must lead the fight of all those oppressed,women, youth etc and gain their support in the fight for socialism, - That socialism can only be achieved by destroying the capitalist state through the mass mobilisation of the working class.

We believe it is necessary to build a mass anti-imperialist Workers! Party which can lead Irish workers to establish a Socialist Republic, - That socialism can only be achieved if it is international.

Therefore P.D. is a member of the Fourth International, an international socialist organisation which actively supports and participates in the struggles of workers from Central America to Solidarity in Poland, (5)

Fighting /\usterity The Limerick Water Tax campaign is just one example of a growing mood of resistance throughout Ireland to the attacks on living standards and democratic rights coming from the Government and employers. in the South and from the British authorities in the North, n the last few years the main economic fights have been around redundancies and cutbacks, Working class people have been on the defensive.

there have been some gains, won some of their jobs back.

But despite huge odds After months of struggle the Ranks workers The workers at Clondalkin paper mills also won a partial victory after a long hard fight.

The spate of factory occupations last year showed that other workers have been ready to fight too. looming on the horizon, Like the Water Tax campaign these struggles have been long and hard fought, There have been other similarities too. The Coalition Government has shown an increased tendency to use the law against workers, Workers leaders have been jailed and now the Courts are being used against Water Tax protesters, With the passing of the Criminal Justice Bill it's becoming evident that repression is going to beone of the main props of Government policy, Repression, Leadership. Workers in struggle —s khave been faced with an accute lack of leadership from the official bodies of the Trade Union Movement.

Who can remember any kind of leadership from Congress in the last few years? In fact, the official union leaders have been content to sell out jobs and wages in return for meetings with the Government and verbal pressure on the Labour Party. Workers fighting the austerity offensive of the Government and the employers have had to rely on their own strength alone, As with Limerich tenants and Residents it has been the involvement of as many peeple as possible in an active way that has allowed these struggles to make any headway at all. Despite such problems of leadership workers, such as those at Ranks and Slondalkin and the various tenant associations have not seen their struggles as isolated events but have fought to build links with (6) and some big battles on pay, especially in the public sector, are other struggles and other trade unionists. This sort of workers!

unity will be crutial to the Water Tax campaign in the next period, Managers have adopted a tactic of attempting to sow division between tenants and residents on the one hand and Local Authority workers on the other, They claim that if the tax is not paid then workers will be made redundant and further cuts implemented, The Government's claims that cuts are necessary and that local services will have to be "self-financing" are a pretty sick joke for Irish working people given that the 26 Counties have the worst social services and the highest tax rates in Europe, Workers know that the solution to this dilemma is to impose a progressive tax on the Multi-national Corporations which repatriate huge profits, on native Irish capitalists and on the Banks. Tax the Rich, This king of tax would release plenty of resources to finance improved Local Authority and public services and would allow new jobs to be created, Already much progress has been made towards overcoming the divisive tactics of the Managers and the Government. Corporation workers have pledged their support for opponents of the Water Tax. the local trade Union movement has stated its opposition to the levy.

What the campaign must now do is turn this verbal opposition into Unity.

active participation in the campaign and develop a stratagy that can force the Government and the Corporation to back down, A national campaign involving the trade union movement where possible must be built through NiTO and 4CR4 that can prevent tenants and residents in various parts of the country from becoming isolated. This will be no easy task, The employer class and their, government are on a collision course with the workers! movement and its allies, What they have in mind are further cuts in living Standards, through cutting wages and conditions and boosting unemp-~ loyment. The recently uwnveiled "National" Plan (for the 26 Counties!)

spells out just such a policy. j whole new batch of Service Charges as well as more public service cuts are on the cards, Without any provision for any real expansion of public sector employment this plan aims to boost employers profits, claiming that such profits will provide new jobs, Actually, increased profits just mean more money for the employers. National Plan. "In 1983 productivity in ‘Irish manufacturing industry rose by 14%... Output grew by 7%, Yet in the same period employment in - manufacturing actually fell by 7,000," rita a (Irish Socialist) These Thatcherist policies must be opposed, Members of Peoples Democracy are active in the resistance to the Water Tax and as revolutionary socialists will continue to press for the following Action programme. Socialist Solutions. -~ Expansion of Local juthority services and jobs ad an end to the public sector embargo on recruitment, - An equitable tax system to pay for this expansion that puts the burden where it belongs - on those who pwn the means of creating wealth. For opening the account (7) books of companies to find out which need to be taxed, -4 national campaign of demonstrations and industrial action to back up those who refuse to pay double taxes, - 4 35 hour week in Local Authority employment to provide extra public sector jobs. Under capitalism the working class gets the worst deal of all. Only a socialist Ireland can provide for our people in a fair and equitable way. he Action Programme above puts the needs of workers and their families over the needs of capital.

This should be the approach of all those parties that claim to represent the working class. The Water Tax was imposed by the Coalitio Government of Fine Gael and Labour. Fine Gael is an openly pro-capitalist party with a preoccupation for book balancing at the people's expense, The Labour Rarty on the other hand has pretensions to representing working class people and it has formal links with the Trade Union Movement, However, the experience of this Coalition Government and of previous ones shows that Dick Spring's and Barry Desmond's approach is not noticeably different from that of Fitzgerald and Dukes, Dead Loss. The disasterous slide of Labour's electrol fortunes and the dissatisfaction of thousands of Trade unionists with the Party show that workers understand whose side the Labour Party is really on.

The 1984 National Convention (WaTo) called on the Trade “nions to disaffiliate from the Labour Party and "to begin discussions as to how best working class organisations such as NaTO and the unions can be represented politically," In this situation some people are claiming that Fianna Fail would not be as bad as the present Coalition, But this is a completely wrong approach, Fianna Foil is as completely pro«¢apitalist as Fine

Gael and its sellout of the Northern nationalist people is just as abject, Relying on parties that identify with capitalism or British imperialisn is a dead loss. Workers need a party of their own that can lead the fight against exploitation and injustice and for a new society. Political parties such as Labour and the Workers Party which claim to represent working class people are 60 completely tied into the existing order that they can be of no use to workers in the harsh struggles that have begun and which will deepen. The Workers Party is now putting itself forward as an alternative to the Labour Party. While it may make radical statements there is no evidence to suggest that it will offer a real change to Irish workers, AS a party it bases itself on parliament and has shown itself to be as eager a Coalitionist as Labour dubing the months it kept Fianna Fail in power. Not an alternative. nt ee The Workers party does not see mass direct action of workers on their own behalf as the way forward to socialism for working people. Furthermore, they refuse to back the Northern minority in their struggle against the most brutal manifestation of capitalism in Ireland, the direct intervention of British imperialism. Incredibly, the Workers Party assign a progressive role to British imperialism in Ireland by_proposing that it enforce gq Bill of Rights giving democracy to the minority (an impossibility within the confines of the artificially created 6 Counties), Its failure to meet the severe political test presented by the situation in the North has practically wiped out the Workers Party there as a force. In the South many Irish workers have spent years under the illusion that the Labour Party was on their side. It would be a disaster if workers were now to (8) allow another reformist party like the WP to lead them up the same blind ally for another few years, Short step. Parties that claim to represent workers have always been marginal in Irish political life because these parties have never faced up to the need to fight British occupation of the Six Counties and the realities of partition. In practice, when ever the crisis of partition has spilled on to the streets these parties have lined up with the most reactionary elements of the ruling class and have supported forcible suppression of nationalist workers in the North, ind if you're lined up with the bosses against working class people in the North it's only a short step to lining up with them against Southern workers too, Labour's coalition is so shameful as to need no further elaboration.

The Workerst Party may be verbally more assertive about workers rights but their bureaucratic and economist approach | which denies the reality of imperialist domination of Ireland offers no way forward for those workers who want to resist the attacks of the government and the employers, Only the antiimperialist movement that opposes British occupation of the Six Younties has qa decent record of relying on workers and small farmers, The sixteen years of nationalist resistance in the North shows that it is this movement that has most experience and involvement in peoples! resistance struggles. Anti-imperialist alternative, The main anti-imperialist party, Sinn Fein has made great strides towards involving itself in the issues that confront working class people. It has also increasingly seen the need for mass involvement and action in the resistance struggle, But the anti-imperialist move-

ment does not yet have a consistent working class programme that can unify the various struggles of the oppressed sectors of the Irish people. Sinn Fein also lacks a consistant socialist programme, What that means is that it does not see the mass struggle led by the working class as the key to ending British occupation of the Six Counties and to replacing Irish capitalism with a Socialist Republic, Sinn Fein has made great :o. > progress in involvement in workers struggles and in the struggles of people in their local areas, But this is not the same as having a socialist programme and the task of building an anti-imperialist party with socialist programme remains to be carried out,

WAAL NEG

Peoples Democracy (P.D.) is fully committed to building a party of the working class that is consistantly anti-imperialist and which can lead the struggles of the opener ae in the struggle for a new treland, united, socialist and free, In the fight for an anti-imperialist Workers! Party we cannot ignore the differences we have with Sinn Fein but we believe these are differences between revolutionaries which will be settled in the course of common struggle, The struggle against Water Tax is one of the many struggles that Irish workers will have to go through in the next few years, It is from such struggles that a new party of the working class will be forged and Peoples Democracy will play its part. rs for the Water Tax campaign Now that the first summonses have come to court the Water Tax campaign faces its most serious test.

It is unlikely that the courts will find in favour of defqulters and will rather line up with Limerick Corporation.

herefore the Water Tax campaign must concentrate in building its campaign elsewhere - in the unions and the workplaces as well as in each community.

If the courts become the sole focus of the campaign then the Campaign will become demobilised and, seeing no possibility of victory, will become demoralised.

for the Public implementation of Local Authority service charges, The campaign must be seen as a real national Sampas ee under the leadership of NATO and 4CR4.

ervice Unions to refuse to co-operate with the It must press It must build the widest possible support in the labour movement for those individuals who have received summonses, \t the end of the day only the Labour Movement can muster sufficient forces to make the Government back down and for this reason the Water Tax campaign must also set about winning support in the form of industrial action from the Labour Movement - especially from Local \uthority unions and union Branch Committees whose members are dragged before the courts, In the short term the following steps must be taken- - All union branches, but especially those in the Public Sector must be asked for suprort. The Water Tax Campaign should try to get a speaker at all union meetings to ask for support.

- 4assive pickets with special emphasis on workplace delegations must be built for the court appearances of those who receive summonses, -~ The support of the unions for any of the individuals victimised by (continued on page 11)

When people object to Service Charges such as Water Tax politicians will say that::.5 is a choice between this or cuts in the Public Service. They warn that if the Water Tax isn't collected jobs in Local juthorities will be lost and services will be cutback, I-ulble Service Secale: Unfortunately, Trade Unionists, this argument holds water, so to speak, with some Mary O'Donnell, a Branch Official with the ITGU in Limerick(which represents most Health Soard and Local Authority workers in the areg) outlines below (in a personal capacity) the arguments against this aspect of government propaganda, ~ - _ os ~ ne - oe - a ad oo - -~ ~ ~ ~ - - ~ ~- -~ ~ We have all become accustomed by now to the constant calls from employer and rancher groups and others in high places for cutbacks in Government spending, Mark you, when such calls are made, it is most clear they are to take place in public services such as local authority, Health and Social elfare, Now that the paranoia about public spending has become something of an epidemic and the insidious illness is to be widely found, not just among the rich to which it was formally confined, but among working people and trade unionists it may be useful to ask ourselves what is this nameless, faceless Public Sector which is eating our taxes?

The Public service is the means by which the State (under pressure from working olass organisations and to meet the needs of private enterprise for a contented healthy and educated workforce ) provides for the social needs of the people. \ large part of public expenditure goes on the weakest elements in society by way of old age pensions widows pensions, health care, unemployment benefits ete - the minimum required by a caring society, No private profitmaking concern is ever going to be interested in or capable of providing an equal or comparable level of hospital care, housing, transport etc for those who are less well off.or an education system which will "cherish all the children of the nation equally" despite the fact that more and more the private sector tries to dictate what education is all about in order that those leaving school are better equipped to increase profits for the few, It is cutbacks in the area of services provided for all but totally essential to working .

people who cannot afford to pay for private medicine, housing etc which are contemplated when public sector spending is criticised, There is never any mention of cutbacks in the hundreds of millions of pounds handed out annually to support private industry nd agriculture, Agriculture, od The big Farmers! organisations are constantly bleating for cuts in public expenditure while, of course at the same time, wailing and squealing about taxation. The Dept of Agriculture spends £320 million every year on grants, schemes, subsidjes and advice to farmers, When one adds on EEC grants (£430) and price supports approximately £5,000 per annum is spent per farmer from public funds, -Farmers pay about £47 million in tax each year! If the IF4 demands that the gap between receipts and spending be narrowed then we should begin by narrowing the gap between what that sector contributes and what it receives, The Unions support the idea of a rédistribution of.

A ie ats within society. However,

there must surely be some limit to just how much the government can expect to rob from the poor to give to the ranchers, ; Grants to industry, native or foreign, are never among the cutbacks called for in public spending.

Some examples of P\iYE money spent on private industry in 1983 are - Industry. ID, & SFADCo £188m Bord Failte £23m ANCO £1'7m Coras Trachtala £17m TIRS £9m Under the national Plan IDA grants are to be increased by 33%. Two thirds of all public capital sperning goes to private construction companies, Between 1980 and 1983 industry and agriculture combined received over £34 billion in grants and subsidies while contributing only £14 billion in taxes, At the same time the PAYE sector is contributing more to national funds than it receives in benefits, It can be clearly seen then that there are many areas in which public money is spent aside from the provision of services at large.

In conelusion Trade Unionists should consider that (a) Cuts in the Public Sector means higher unemployment, i,e. more people looking for work in industry vue Single greatest le ver employers have for keeping wages down and (b) The Services being cut are the very services Trade Unionists need when they put out their bin in the morning, get sick and go to hospital or want that pothole outside their house filled in, The interests of industrial and hlic service workers are linked, Without a united fight against the cuts the gains of both are at risk, The alternative to service charges is not "Cut the Public Service", It is "Make the Rich Pay".

Mary O'Donnell, (11) WHAT NEXT ? (continued from p 9) the Corporation must be sought, The unions in the public sector must refuse to co-operate in any victimisation of individuals harassed by the Corporation, action by Dublin Souncil of Trade Unions succeeded in forcing the release of Ranks workers jailed in the course of an industrial dispute, Similar action can prevent the victimisation of Water Tax protestors, - A major national demonstration timed to coincide with the budget for 1985 needs to be built by all the forces opposing the water Tax and other local Service Charges.

ioc etre mas: This will allow co-ordination of various community Groups around the country. his will also be necessary since the Budget will implement the first part of the "National Plan" and will impose even more Local Authority Service Charges, - Local Councillors must be forced to support the Water Tax campaign in an active way. There can be no more sitting on the fence! The Water Tax campaign must guarantee that the positions taken by Councillors will be made known to voters in next years' local government elections. No matter how good the intentions the Water Tax will not be beaten by a few individuals "willing to go to jail", The jailing of protestors will only take place if the campaign is collapsing.

It would almost certainly mark the defeat of the campaign.

Our aim must be to prevent the situation arising where the State feels it can get away with jailing individuals, United mass action must be our means, Published by The Limerick Branch of Peoples Democracy (PD) 39 Elm Place, Rathbane,.