Revenue catches 87,000 tax cheats in five years

THE Revenue Commissioners made settlements with 87,000 tax defaulters over the past five years, the Labour Party revealed yesterday.

But only 18 tax defaulters were prosecuted in the same period while three of these were convicted and ended up serving jail sentences, according to Labour’s finance spokeswoman Joan Burton.

“The Revenue Commissioners must be congratulated in pursuing these tax defaulters and yielding €1.6 million for the Exchequer, but they must use their powers to initiate more prosecutions if the current level of tax evasion is to be curtailed,” Ms Burton said.