Incompetence, inefficiency and sheer bad financial management have been catalogued in three separate reports on tax incentive schemes released yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen.
Although some of those schemes have been closed or are in the process of being phased out in the Finance Bill, the exercise has all the appearance of a Government gently closing the stable door behind some of the country's wealthiest individuals.
Providing tax breaks to high net-worth individuals became something of a political growth industry in this State at about the same time as offshore tax evasion by middle-income people - facilitated by the financial institutions - became endemic.
But while the Revenue has been cracking down on offshore tax evasion for some years, it is only now that a cost-benefit analysis of the various domestic tax incentive schemes has been released.
The most damning indictment of the property-based schemes by Indecon International Economic Consultants is that they were introduced without costings and were continued without adequate oversight or benefit analysis.
The Government-commissioned report found major information deficiencies in relation to the schemes and said their design provided "a key mechanism for high-income earners to reduce their tax liabilities". It recommended that only three out of 10 schemes be retained, urged full disclosure of those remaining and proposed that new schemes should have a lifespan of three years.
An examination of area-based tax incentive schemes by Goodbody Economic Consultants also found information was not available from official sources and that tax benefits had accrued to "a relatively few high-income individuals". By the end of this year, those schemes will have cost the Exchequer in excess of €2 billion.
They will have contributed to significant property price inflation and benefited a small number of landowners and developers. Poor value was received and tax breaks amounted to 43 per cent of building costs. With the cost of the schemes rising rapidly, Mr Cowen had no option but to halt the gravy train in last December's Budget.
An internal review of a variety of other schemes by the Department of Finance and the Revenue had a defensive air. While recognising that much of the rationale for tax incentives no longer applied and that the beneficiaries tended to earn more than €200,000 a year, it recommended reducing - not abolishing - most of the benefits. No costs were provided for exempting stallion stud fees.
These reports were commissioned more than a year ago, at a time when public indignation was growing because of special tax breaks for the very wealthy. The Government's response in addressing those concerns has been slow and hesitant and, in some instances, quite inadequate. Apart from a requirement on Mr Cowen to secure value for the Exchequer from these expensive concessions, more needs to be done to create a fair and transparent taxation system.