Time for tax evaders to face the law

THE no-nonsense warning that there is no safe haven for tax evaders in Ireland will send shivers down the spines of those who still believe they can dodge the taxman and get away with it.

It is a welcome sign of the newfound resolve of the Revenue Commissioners to crack down on the corruption and crime that once pervaded our society, in the form of a series of scams operated by banks and financial advisers for thousands of clients.

From the Golden Circle down, this went on for years under the nose of the Revenue.

How dramatically things have changed is clear from figures released by Revenue Commissioner chairman Frank Daly, showing that more than €700 million was collected last year from special investigations into bogus non-resident accounts, Ansbacher investors, and National Irish Bank/CMI offshore schemes.

A new crop of accounts is currently being examined in the Isle of Man and Jersey. And within the past three weeks, a further 281 Irish people admitted using accounts or trust structures in offshore jurisdictions to conceal tax evasion.

The flow of tax, interest and penalties from these will also be significant.

These figures underline the fact that the crime of tax evasion was widespread in middle-class society, including the highest levels of industry and politics.

For years, well-off farmers, publicans, shopkeepers and business people in towns and villages across the country had been salting away money in bogus non-resident accounts, Ansbacher deposits and hidden offshore trusts and schemes, all designed to evade tax.

So pervasive was the culture of corruption that a visitor could be forgiven for thinking he was in South America and that Ireland was a banana republic.

Lifting the lid on this can of worms, the Tribunals brought a litany of well-known names into the daylight, reinforcing public suspicions.

But in keeping with society’s traditional nod-and-wink regard for anyone who sets out to beat the system, there persists a marked reluctance to put those who commit white-collar crime behind bars.

In contrast with the severity of sentences handed down by the courts for lesser crimes (people have been jailed for stealing handbags or failing to pay dog licences), out of the seven prosecutions brought against tax defaulters by the Revenue Commissioners in the past 18 months, only one perpetrator went to jail.

The financial harvest reaped for the Exchequer coffers is a resounding vindication of the Revenue’s get-tough policy on tax evasion.

But in the public mind there remains a perception that the big fish can still get off the hook, one way or another, while the small man is hammered.

This is not to condone minor defaulters. Rightly or wrongly, however, the feeling that a blind eye had been turned to major offenders in the past, no doubt explains the public’s jaundiced view of the Revenue.

This perception is unlikely to be altered by the realisation that anyone going to the taxman with their hands up about an offshore account will not be prosecuted or have their names published, although they will have to pay the full tax and penalties.

The reality is that those who try to get away with tax evasion on a major scale are serious criminals and deserve to be treated as such.

They should heed the warning that Ireland no longer provides a hiding place, either off-shore or on-shore, for hot money. And about time too.