Law Reform body not in favour of Revenue Court

THE Law Reform Commission has adopted a “safety first” approach to reform in the area of tax law enforcement by passing up the opportunity to recommend the establishment of a specialist Revenue Court and a new post of Director of Fiscal Prosecutions.

The view of the commission is that the appointment of a new DFP to stand alongside the Director of Public Prosecutions would lead to “further fragmentation of the public prosecution system.”

The commission went as far as to suggest that a Director of Fiscal Prosecutions would run the risk of developing, or being perceived as developing “too much affinity” with those who work in the area, including presumably tax officials. Accordingly, it recommended that “the arrangements currently in place for the prosecution of revenue offences be maintained for a period and then reviewed in a few years.”