Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been fleeced. By my own government. This morning I received my monthly credit card statement, and was promptly taken aback by the amount I owed. Surely I hadn’t spent _that_ much? A subsequent scan of my transaction list revealed the cause of this anomaly: the government had helped themselves to €40 of my hard-earned savings, €40 that the government — in their infinite wisdom — has set as the flat rate of stamp duty on all credit card accounts held in this country. Now €40 might seem like a drop in the ocean to someone who makes, say €40,000 a year. But to the lower-waged or unemployed (like me) it’s a real kick in the teeth from a self-serving government of racketeering gangster scumbags that don’t give a monkeys about the people who elected them. Did they go with the fair option of a percentage rate? Oh no, of course not — if they did, the fat cats would owe a lot more than €40, wouldn’t they? Something else to add to my list of “Reasons To Get the Fuck Out of Ireland”, methinks.

Thu 24 Apr 2003 at 18:20   ·