Sir, - Compliant taxpayers, incensed by the recent spate of revelations on tax evasion, are unlikely to be impressed by the pronouncements of some senior members of the Government.
Mr McCreevy's statement in the Dail (January 28th) in which he proclaimed his "complete intolerance of those who engage in tax evasion and of those who assist or abet tax-evaders" rings very hollow indeed when it is recalled that he was one of the chief apologists for the tax amnesty in 1993 which both assisted and abetted tax-evaders.
Two days later, speaking at the opening of the new Revenue Commissioners' offices in Tallaght, Mr McCreevy played down the scandal of tax evasion by accusing people (unnamed) of scare-mongering and by declaring that "the sums uncovered are very small in the context of the level of tax paid each year". Ignoring the fact that it is the sums undetected which are relevant, he went on to make the astonishing statement that it was an insult to the vast majority of taxpayers to say that tax evasion is widespread. All the evidence suggests to me that it is a far greater insult to pretend that it is not.
On the same day that his Minister for Finance was waffling in Tallaght, the Taoiseach told the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce that "the work of recent tribunals had confirmed the persistence of a culture of tax evasion, a hidden Ireland where people, very rarely poor, systematically avoided their social obligations". He went on to express the hope that "the chambers of commerce throughout Ireland would play a leadership role in encouraging everybody to pay their legally due taxes". This exhortation is rich indeed coming from the man who introduced the tax amnesty in 1993 which has been described by the Tanaiste, Mary Harney, as the greatest-ever insult offered to the people of Ireland.
While Mr Ahern and Mr McCreevy seem to be singing from different hymn sheets on the extent of tax evasion, both have been very careful to avoid even hinting at doing anything positive to counteract it (apart from repeating, ad nauseam, that this is a function of the Revenue Commissioners). Of course such an approach is understandable when one remembers that positive action to curb tax evasion would almost certainly alienate their party's paymasters in big business. - Yours, etc.,
M. D. KennedySilchester Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin.