White-collar crime - Approach to tax evaders must change

IRELAND’S failure to impose realistic sentences on the perpetrators of white-collar crime is highlighted by today’s report showing that only a handful of people have been jailed for serious tax evasion in the past decade.

Inevitably, perceptions of a two-tier approach to sentencing are raised by the Irish Examiner revelations. Inescapably, the inference is that tax cheats enjoy softly-softly treatment compared to the harsh nature of sentences handed down to offenders on the margins of society.

It beggars belief that only four people have been put behind bars for serious tax evasion, especially considering the huge sums involved in financial scams, not to mention revelations of bribery and corruption in the murky world of business and politics.