Taxi driver robs €2,500 from customers - fined €750!

Hi Deise

Does the Department of Social Welfare publish a list of people who are found to have fraudulently claimed social welfare?

I don't know what the penalties should be for
Taxi fare fraud
Social welfare fraud
Tax fraud

Maybe none should go to jail.

But it should not pay. For tax fraud, the fines and interest are huge.

I don't know if there are fines for social welfare fraud? If they are, are they collected?

Brendan
 
There was a case recently, that received widespread coverage, of a Dublin GP who engaged in intentional tax evasion, pleaded guilty, offered a payment plan to cover the bill & penalties, and who received a custodial sentence. He subsequently had to declare for bankruptcy.

At the time I believed, and still believe, that society was not well served by him being incarcerated. I thought a better sanction would have been for him to have had to work X hundred hours in a public health centre.

He is also my GP and I believe he works a lot more than 30 hours per week.
 
TarfHead said:
society was not well served by him being incarcerated.
Click to expand...

But this gets back to Deise's point about the scale.

A very wealthy person on a high income can defraud the taxpayer of hundreds of thousands of euro.

Someone working in the black economy claiming Jobseekers is probably defrauding the taxpayer of €40,000 a year.

I remember a guy whom I vaguely knew appearing on the Tax List for about €15k as a landlord, I think. He had a very senior position and would have been earning in excess of €200k at the time. He paid most of his tax. I thought it was very stupid of him. But I also thought it was very tough on him.

But at the same time, I think that the taxi driver should be fined much more and probably should have gone to jail. Mind you, if he is banned from driving a taxi, that would be enough.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
But this gets back to Deise's point about the scale.

A very wealthy person on a high income can defraud the taxpayer of hundreds of thousands of euro.

Someone working in the black economy claiming Jobseekers is probably defrauding the taxpayer of €40,000 a year.

I remember a guy whom I vaguely knew appearing on the Tax List for about €15k as a landlord, I think. He had a very senior position and would have been earning in excess of €200k at the time. He paid most of his tax. I thought it was very stupid of him. But I also thought it was very tough on him.

But at the same time, I think that the taxi driver should be fined much more and probably should have gone to jail. Mind you, if he is banned from driving a taxi, that would be enough.

Brendan
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Dublin City Council have €20 million in unpaid social housing rent. Is that the same thing really?
 
I'm not convinced he has lost his taxi licence, none of the stories I've read specify that he did.
The €2,500 was a guesstimate, no proof was provided as to the scale of the fraud, how could it? He did co-operate fully and the knowledge provided helped get the system fixed so that it can't be done again. If he was to go to jail we'd need Thornton Hall by 10.
 
Deiseblue said:
Degrees of scale Brendan , for minor social welfare infractions - No , the punishment should fit the crime.
But certainly for fraud at a level commensurate to the amounts defrauded by those on the tax defaulters list the answer is a definite Yes.
The difference being that a quick google search shows that a number of people have been jailed for social welfare fraud- has anybody from the recent defaulter’s list ?
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Yep. I

www.thejournal.ie

GP who dodged paying almost €100,000 in tax jailed for 16 months

The doctor had a hidden bank account into which he lodged 1,686 cheques.
www.thejournal.ie www.thejournal.ie

www.thejournal.ie

Businessman jailed for over two years on tax charges in Revenue prosecution case

The former director and secretary of Event Elephant Ltd was prosecuted by Revenue last week.
www.thejournal.ie www.thejournal.ie
 
It's up to Garda to request NTA to revoke Taxi Driver licence, they haven't done so in this case and it would seem in a number of other cases. NTA can't revoke without Garda request.
 
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dereko1969 said:
It's up to Garda to request NTA to revoke Taxi Driver licence, they haven't done so in this case and it would seem in a number of other cases. NTA can't revoke without Garda request.
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I didn't know that! Surely the courts should have the powers there...don't think we should be relying on the Gardai following through on admin to address issues like that.
 
NTA regulate the car and the service, gardai regulate the driver.

Clarification on Taxi Driver Investigation

Licensing of taxi drivers falls under the remit of An Garda Síochána rather than the National Transport Authority “Operation Vantage” is an operation which has been running for a number of years and is not related solely to taxis, being a wider immigration enquiry, although yesterday’s operation...
www.transportforireland.ie www.transportforireland.ie
 
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