Sir, - I have worked as an inspector of taxes since 1979 and I am also a member of the executive of the Association of Inspectors of Taxes - a branch of the IMPACT trade union. I cannot speak for every inspector or for the entire executive of my union, but I can say that I was very impressed by your Editorial, "Beefing up the Revenue" (May 30th).
You correctly quote our spokesperson as saying that there has been "a deliberate policy of capping staff numbers to save on administration costs since 1991 and this meant that planned, systematic and widespread tax evasion remains a feature of the Irish tax system." This happens in spite of the fact that the vast majority of audit/investigation inspectors collect several multiples of their salaries each year.
You have heard of "lies, damned lies and statistics" and the Revenue press office can selectively twist statistics better than most people. But even the Revenue press office will have trouble deceiving journalists on this point. I should point out that The Irish Times does not reproduce Revenue press statements in an entirely trusting and uncritical fashion, like some of your competitors.
The best way to explain the way Irish tax law is administered today is with a quotation from Jonathan Swift: "Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small insects but let wasps and hornets break through." Revenue focuses most of its effort on collecting PAYE tax and hounding small and medium-sized businesses, while large corporations or limited companies are either not audited or receive a superficial investigation, often by a less experienced Revenue official below the grade of inspector.
Wealthy tax-evaders increase the tax burden for honest traders and the PAYE taxpayers. Tax evasion is not a victimless crime. Tax which was evaded could have been used to reduce hospital waiting-lists, or to help children with reading problems, or to give pensioners enough money to heat their homes in the winter.
When the report of the Public Accounts Committee on DIRT evasion was published, its chairman, Jim Mitchell, was asked if he thought senior civil servants should resign as a result of the negative conclusions of the report. He replied that while the report did not specifically call for their resignations he felt that "they should consider their positions". Well, they did consider their positions and they are all still in them, unlike former judge Hugh O'Flaherty who reached a different conclusion when he considered his position. Many people believe that if a single civil servant at deputy secretary-general level or higher had been forced to resign, the conclusions of the DIRT report would have been taken more seriously.
You state in your Editorial that "we are still some way from the creation of a level playing pitch for all taxpayers". Consequently, morale among inspectors of taxes is at an all-time low. Most inspectors I talk to believe that the current method of administering the tax law is unfair and indefensible. They have lost confidence in the highest level of management in Revenue and they see the highest level of management as part of the problem, not part of the solution.
The most important part of your Editorial is the opening question: "Does public opinion really matter or will the Government persevere with the traditional relaxed approach towards certain kinds of tax evasion?" The brutal answer to your question is that the majority of the public could not care less about tax evasion, even when they have to tolerate under-funded public services because of it. The American journalist H.L. Menken said: "Nobody ever lost money by under-estimating the intelligence of the public." The Minister for Finance is a bit of a gambler and he knows that most of your readers will be too apathetic to even write a letter about tax evasion.
Where Irish tax evasion is concerned we have produced another "Irish answer to an Irish problem." In this century the "Island of Saints and Scholars" is in danger of being transformed into the "island of hypocrites and tax evaders" - and very few people are even mildly concerned. - Yours, etc.,
Joseph Marron, Rathmines, Dublin 6.