Editorial Comment: Mayday mayday, more tax on May Day

Queen Guenevere got it pretty right as she sang the Lusty Month of May from the hit show Camelot.

The lyrics run as follows:

Tra la! It's May!

The lusty month of May!

That lovely month when ev'ryone goes

Blissfully astray.

Tra la! It's here!

That shocking time of year

When tons of wicked little thoughts

Merrily appear!

It's May! It's May!

That gorgeous holiday

When ev'ry maiden prays that her lad

Will be a cad!

It's mad! It's gay!

A libelous display!

Those dreary vows that ev'ryone takes,

Ev'ryone breaks.

Ev'ryone makes divine mistakes

Perhaps going astray and making divine mistakes during the month of May fits right into the scheme of things right now with the imposition of further taxes on hard pressed householders. More carbon tax no less - and this is to be ring-fenced to pay for the retro-fitting of homes to bring them up to standard so that they are as energy efficient as possible.

A lofty idea no doubt and one which suggests that they will be queueing up to take up the offer of retrofit. But, the reality is that with the costs involved, the take-up will not likely be anything akin to the anticipated or predicted estimates.

Perhaps the retrofit notion would be better employed if public buildings were brought into the equation. How about making schools, Garda stations, government offices etc self sufficient with solar PV panels; air tight and operating off heat pumps rather than oil fired central heating. Maybe then the taxpayer might feel that there is more bang for their extra tax bucks.