Millionaires who avoid paying income tax by investing in tax-incentive schemes must be weeded out of the system, the Minster for Finance Mr Cowen insisted last night.
Mr Cowen said he aims to plug loopholes in the Finance Bill currently going through the Dail and said he would do more in Budget 2006 next December.
In a keynote address to the Irish Taxation Institute in Dublin, he said: "What I want to do is to improve the equity and effectiveness of the tax system.
"We cannot have a situation where there are a small number of tax-free millionaires ... in the system."
Recent Revenue figures showed that 11 millionaires and another 242 people with earnings from €100,000 €1million managed to pay no tax at all in 2001 by exploiting exemptions and reliefs.
He reminded the Institute that his 2006 Budget will review tax reliefs and exemptions to ensure they are "not used by high earners to reduce their tax bill to negligible or relatively low amounts".
He also warned against cutting off tax-reliefs if it meant job losses. "Getting the balance right is the public interest will not be easy but it is what Governments are expected to do."
He told his audience that the Finance Bill also creates a new aiding and abetting offence in relation to tax fraud which he said was designed "to catch those who are the clear offenders".
He noted how Irish society had changed in relation to how it views tax evasion. "It's not socially acceptable to admit to being a tax dodger," he said.
"The existence of this degree of moral persuasion, which is also exerted by members of this Institute, is a powerful factor in the ongoing effort to ensure that all of us pay our fair share of taxes."