Socialists criticise Wallace over taxes
Monday, July 16, 2012
Independent TD Mick Wallace "has not fully registered the significance of his wrongdoing", the Socialist Party has said.
His company’s tax evasion and his subsequent failure to deal with the controversy were "undermining his credibility", the party added.
It called on him to "put all the necessary information relating to the circumstances of his non-payment of Vat and his dealings with the Revenue Commissioners into the public domain". It also said that Mr Wallace "must take seriously his responsibility to fully pay back the Revenue Commissioners as soon as possible".
Mr Wallace sits with the Socialist Party’s Joe Higgins and Clare Daly on the Dáil technical group, an amalgamation of TDs formed to ensure greater speaking rights in the chamber. However, the under-declaration of Vat and subsequent settlement with Revenue has unsettled the Socialist Party and several other members of the technical group.
A Socialist Party statement said: "It seems that Mick Wallace has not fully registered the significance of his wrongdoing, the anger it has caused or his responsibility as a public representative to deal with the issues properly and fully."
Mr Wallace owes Revenue €2.1m in tax, interest, and penalties after admitting his company fraudulently understated Vat.
Last week, it emerged he would escape a Dáil investigation because he frustrated a committee examining the issue by failing to provide it with all the information it requested.