Bias against rural tax dodgers ‘should end with Revenue reorganisation’

THE bias against rural tax dodgers should come to an end following the biggest reorganisation of the Revenue Commissioners in the history of the State, say Revenue insiders.

Tax dodgers in Dublin are four times less likely to be named and shamed as defaulters in Kerry, Tipperary, Monaghan, Kilkenny, Waterford, Sligo, Roscommon and Limerick, an analysis by the Irish Examiner of 2,122 tax defaulters named and shamed by the Revenue from October 1, 2001, to June 30 of this year has uncovered.

Tax defaulters in Cork and Galway are twice as likely to be named than defaulters in Dublin. The Revenue says there is no bias in the way they target their investigations, but insiders say the manner in which the Revenue was structured led to the problem.