So from the picture of a GAA match has a connection with household charges. If you win the All Ireland then that county is likely to pay the tax, but if you lose in the semi then they don’t pay.

Or, to look at it another way, the more a county gets per head in social transfers (and CAP payments), the lower its rate of household charge payment.

Here’s what each county gets from the tax pot per head annually (minus means they put money in), and their rate of household charge compliance for eligible households (data is CSO county incomes/taxes):

Donegal €4,316.81 26.60%
Monaghan €3,343.39 28.10%
Offaly €2,748.87 32.20%
Cavan €2,908.33 34.40%
Louth €2,640.20 34.50%
Westmeath €2,745.86 34.60%
Roscommon €2,879.35 34.70%
Laoighis €2,064.01 34.80%
Carlow €3,751.96 35.50%
Longford €4,110.88 35.90%
South Tipperary €2,823.92 37.30%
Wexford €3,373.53 37.30%
Leitrim €4,051.69 37.60%
Waterford €3,006.36 37.87%
North Tipperary €2,974.82 38.50%
Kerry €2,949.13 38.70%
Clare €1,930.49 38.90%
Mayo €3,538.05 38.90%
Kilkenny €2,006.45 39.60%
Meath -€829.46 39.70%
Cork €1,510.43 39.98%
Limerick €2,716.65 40.26%
Galway €2,296.98 41.20%
Sligo €2,625.94 41.20%
Kildare -€772.04 45.10%
Wicklow -€48.12 46.90%
Dublin -€955.92 53.11%

So the more a county usually gets from the tax pot, the less willing its inhabitants are to pay in.

So, the higher a percentage of your salary the charge us, the less likely you are to pay it. That is unsurprising, but at least it provides evidence of something we all suspected, that the main reason for not paying is not being able to afford to.

Sick of this topic

So let’s see…..where people earn more money more people paid the household charge……….well I didn’t see that coming…………….I wouldn’t have figured that one out thanks——by the way it’s good to see still a good few loyal citizens holding out and not paying—- that would b the poor people then

If I had paid this, I’d be looking for a redund by now, considering half the country haven’t paid…….

Yes, people who are used to paying tax are used to paying tax.

There’s a fair few of us Donegalians in Dublin paying the household charge :)

Wudn b anythin to do with Donegal Monaghan and Offaly folk having balls and standing up to bullies? The border counties were particularly used to oppression. Now only difference it’s French and Germans.

A Minister of government on the Late Late show states that the house hold charge is unfair but we must pay it.

Residential properties of Minister of states are exempt from house hold charge so they don’t have to pay it!

Minister Phil Hogan refusing to pay his property tax in Portugal.

Unfair? Unjust? That’s an understatement. Pay your share of the tax and them come and ask us for it!

Offaly aint a border town!!! And really not going to look at something with 2009 figures, sur we have no idea if this is true or not, a lot has happened in the last three years

The cost of living in Donegal is cheaper than Dublin.

Independence for the Pale……we’re just supporting scroungers.

I noticed when I read that you didn’t include Kilkenny in your article, which is also a poor county, particularly rural kilkenny, hogan’s constituency, where only 2 thirds have not paid their charge, and fair play to all the people who didn’t pay and standing up to the bullies of Europe, no doubt alot of them will be voting no for the fiscal treaty at the end of this month.