A PROTEST WILL take place tomorrow outside the monthly meeting of Dublin City Council in response to the decision of the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan to reduce funding for the Council based on the level of Household Charge collection.

Sinn Féin’s Mícheál Mac Donncha described the move as “an attack by the Fine Gael/Labour Government on local services for the citizens and communities of Dublin City”.

The Household Charge has proved extremely contentious matter, becoming something of a thorn in the side of the coalition. The Government has insisted that the collection of the charge is essential for funding local services – while critics have argued it’s simply a move to impose further austerity and pave the way for property and water taxes.

The question of  whether citizens would be happy to pay more taxes if the funds would go towards providing better services was also raised in a discussion this morning on RTÉ Radio One’s Marian Finucane programme.

We’d like to know what you think: would you be happy to pay more taxes if you could be guaranteed the funds would go towards better services?