A family in Limerick were left upset and distraught after their local council sent a household tax warning notice to their father who passed away back in 1997.
The household tax, which is still in its first year, is already putting a strain on Irish families who can’t afford to pay it in the first place. However, a number of people have been unnecessarily receiving warning letters telling them to pay up or else, even though they’ve paid the tax in full. Now it looks like those early warning notices have gone too far.
According to a report by Donal O’Regan in the Limerick Leader, the family who received the letter don’t want to go public, but they made sure to show the letter, which was wrongfully addressed to their deceased father, to the paper for proof.
“When it arrived it was addressed to my dad who died in 1997. You can imagine the great distress it caused to my mum, who is in her eighties, and my siblings. It is complete stupidity in this modern age,” said a son.
“I contacted Limerick County Council on her behalf. I explained the situation and the terrible state that this had left my mum in and they were all apologies”, the son continued.
However, according to a Limerick County Council spokesman, it’s not the council’s fault and that they were simply following on foot of a request from the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA)… Sure isn’t it always someone else’s fault.
