Tax Evasion

S

Slash

Registered User
Messages
329
Is it just my imagination, but it seems almost every time Revenue publish a list of tax defaulters, the biggest ones are nearly always somehow associated with Fianna Fail in some way. If I remember correctly, the last list had the Bailey brothers for 20 million, and now Sean Barron.

From today's Irish Times:
"Taxman pursues Irish rag trade's savvy survivor
Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent

In the unforgiving world of high-street fashion, Seán Barron is something of a survivor. Even at the age of 70, the creator of the Pamela Scott brand remains the driving force behind one of the last family-owned fashion chains in the Irish market.

A women's fashion whiz who was able to brush off the onslaught from international groups on Grafton Street, he is extremely well connected. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern opened one of his city centre stores in 2001. With Dr Michael Smurfit, he co-developed the Riverview leisure club at Clonskeagh, south Dublin.

But after decades in the rag trade, his failure to pay tax of €1.42 million caught up with him late last year. Only yesterday, when Revenue published its latest quarterly list of defaulters, did it publicly emerge that he had paid a total of €6.4 million to settle his debt."
 
Slash said:
Is it just my imagination, but it seems almost every time Revenue publish a list of tax defaulters, the biggest ones are nearly always somehow associated with Fianna Fail in some way.
Click to expand...
Perhaps it is your imagination. Unless you have analysed the Revenue lists going back over some period of time and found evidence to support your hypothesis?
 
Well, if your hypothesis is correct it hasn't done them much good, since these have all been caught.
Now if we could just see the list of those who haven't been caught...
 
Now if we could just see the list of those who haven't been caught...

That made my day

mf
 

I am more annoyed with the fact that when they do catch up with these multi millionaires, the penalties are always really small compared to the amount of money they are now worth. If this person had paid his VAT and PAYE correctly, maybe he would not have had the money to build up the wealth that he has today. What about jail time for fraud and tax evasion? I think it sends a message that its ok to swindle revenue, because the penalties later on are not off-putting and if you have been successful you will be more than able to pay it back....its almost worth while doing.
 

Four and a half times what you owed is quite punative.
 
Purple said:
Four and a half times what you owed is quite punative.
Click to expand...

Not at all, it totally depends on what you are worth.

I presume this guy is a multimillionaire since he ownes pamela scott and was involved in riverview. 6M to him is not punative.
 
The punishment is relative to the crime, not the worth of the criminal.
 
Purple said:
The punishment is relative to the crime, not the worth of the criminal.
Click to expand...

Fair enough and the penalties are severe but they are obviously not having the effect of stopping tax evasion. Maybe if the courts started jailing a few of these guys, they might think twice about committing the crime in the first place. As it stands, they know they can probably buy their way out of trouble if they get caught. In my opinion, it is no different to a drug dealer paying a fine and being allowed go about their business.
 
I am very anti tax evasion but I don't think there is a moral comparison between tax evaders a drug dealer. I also think that tax evasion is a lot less prevalent than it was a few years ago. What we are seeing now is the past catching up with those who transgressed in the past. There is a strong argument to be made that the tax breaks available now are so good that there is no need to break the law any more but that’s a different point.
 

I think its still really prevalent. Instead of off-shore accounts and self employed people not paying vat, its now landlords not paying tax on rental income, people avoiding paying stamp duty if they rent out their house and self employed people claiming expenses for things that they shouldnt.
 

I think it's still prevalent in the construction trades (nixers), teachers doing grinds, professionals taking part payment in cash and casual workers being paid cash by employers in cash businesses so that they can avoid paying employment taxes.
I don't think it's common with large-scale landlords or developers but rather with PAYE earners who rent out a house that they used to live in etc., basically the same people who gave out about political corruption and crooked developers a few years ago. He who is without sin, and all that
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register