Tax rebel angry as fine benefactor spares her prison
-27/06/06
Josephine Rooney, aged
Tax rebel angry as fine benefactor spares her prison
-27/06/06
Josephine Rooney, aged 69, is ìextremely upsetî that a member of the public has settled the council tax bill she had refused to pay as part of a protest about litter, drug use and anti-social behaviour on her street in Derby.
Miss Rooney, a committed Catholic who took a copy of the Missal and an encyclical from the Pope to comfort her in prison after being ësent downí for three months, owed £800 from 2004.
She is a member of the Isitfair Campaign for the Reform of Council Tax, which says it does not encourage non-payment but wants to see radical change in the current system.
Retired insurance broker Ed McGrath, aged 68, from Little Bookham, in Surrey, paid the outstanding tax bill.
Miss Rooney, who is now back home, responded: ìThe person who did this has no respect for my campaign. I am very angry about it. I had planned this for two years.î
Mr McGrath said that he acted because he was concerned that a ìlady of her ageî should be locked up for three months.
Miss Rooney was set to serve her sentence in New Hall women’s prison, in Wakefield, but had spent her first night at Foston Hall closed female prison in Derbyshire.
The pension has been supported by her brother, priest Father Liam Rooney. He told reporters: “The newspapers have been inundated with letters from people willing to payÖ Sheís suffered all this and somebody [has handed] the council a cheque. She sees that as interfering with what she’s trying to achieve.î
Isitfair founder and spokesperson Christine Melsom told Ekklesia: ìMiss Rooney has tried to bring the attention of the council to the plight of Hartington Street for many years.
She continued: ìHer elected council do not listen, her unelected Police Authority do not listen. How else is she to make people aware of the living conditions in parts of Derby? A town, one person said to me, that looks very prosperous, and yet has this ëcrack alleyí in its midst.î
Council Tax is a regressive charge based on the value of each property. It bears no relationship to the income from which people have to pay the tax, and critics say that it penalises those on low incomes.
[Also on Ekklesia: New Rooney drama invokes Pope in tax protest 27/06/06; Retired vicar becomes first council tax martyr; Christian arts festival locals fear noise and litter hell]
Tax rebel angry as fine benefactor spares her prison
-27/06/06
Josephine Rooney, aged 69, is ìextremely upsetî that a member of the public has settled the council tax bill she had refused to pay as part of a protest about litter, drug use and anti-social behaviour on her street in Derby.
Miss Rooney, a committed Catholic who took a copy of the Missal and an encyclical from the Pope to comfort her in prison after being ësent downí for three months, owed £800 from 2004.
She is a member of the Isitfair Campaign for the Reform of Council Tax, which says it does not encourage non-payment but wants to see radical change in the current system.
Retired insurance broker Ed McGrath, aged 68, from Little Bookham, in Surrey, paid the outstanding tax bill.
Miss Rooney, who is now back home, responded: ìThe person who did this has no respect for my campaign. I am very angry about it. I had planned this for two years.î
Mr McGrath said that he acted because he was concerned that a ìlady of her ageî should be locked up for three months.
Miss Rooney was set to serve her sentence in New Hall women’s prison, in Wakefield, but had spent her first night at Foston Hall closed female prison in Derbyshire.
The pension has been supported by her brother, priest Father Liam Rooney. He told reporters: “The newspapers have been inundated with letters from people willing to payÖ Sheís suffered all this and somebody [has handed] the council a cheque. She sees that as interfering with what she’s trying to achieve.î
Isitfair founder and spokesperson Christine Melsom told Ekklesia: ìMiss Rooney has tried to bring the attention of the council to the plight of Hartington Street for many years.
She continued: ìHer elected council do not listen, her unelected Police Authority do not listen. How else is she to make people aware of the living conditions in parts of Derby? A town, one person said to me, that looks very prosperous, and yet has this ëcrack alleyí in its midst.î
Council Tax is a regressive charge based on the value of each property. It bears no relationship to the income from which people have to pay the tax, and critics say that it penalises those on low incomes.
[Also on Ekklesia: New Rooney drama invokes Pope in tax protest 27/06/06; Retired vicar becomes first council tax martyr; Christian arts festival locals fear noise and litter hell]