Tax abusers evade hearing

"The only person on the scene missing was the jack of hearts," said Bob Dylan. The jack of hearts of the Dail Public Accounts Committee hearings on the evasion of DIRT through bogus non-resident accounts is the bogus non-resident account holder.

Everyone else in the affair has been requested to appear at the committee. But no sight nor sound of even one of the thousands of non-compliant taxpayers, the only ones in the affair who are known already to have lied in their tax declarations, committed criminal offences, ripped off the PAYE sector and defrauded society.

There are obvious reasons why no Pat and Mary Kate Non-Compliant Taxpayer will make an appearance. Who, even among those whose tax affairs are now in order, by settlement or through a tax amnesty, would be prepared to embody the antisocial tax evader and present himself for slaughter to the investigators on the Dail committee? Come forward, Pat or Mary Kate. Here's what you could say.

"Deputies, I am the tax cheat you have been talking about. I, and thousands like me from all walks of life, hid my money from the penal tax rate you and your predecessors racked up for this country. I frankly admit I did not give a thought as to whether I should declare my interest income to be taxed at 35 per cent. I thought I should pay as little tax as I could get away with. I voted for you in elections, but I also voted no consent to the system by hiding my income. I admit I still do not get a patriotic feeling when I pay taxes. The best I can do is to accept that some level of taxes is fair, but I never felt that way in the 1980s.

"Deputies, you are not pleased by my attitude. You will accuse me of being anti-social. But I could not be anti-social, because I represent such a large part of society. I was the black economy, but when enough of the economy is black, it makes no sense to segregate white from black. There is safety in numbers. Grown to a certain point, I, and my fellow non-compliant taxpayers, am society itself. You, public representatives, represented me too.

"You are enquiring into the past behaviour of fellow politicians, civil servants and bankers. Was it a real dilemma between capital flight-and-tax evasion? Why were such trade-offs made? How could blatant anti-social behaviour such as mine have been tolerated? Why did no one shout stop? And why was I given an amnesty if what I did was so bad?

"Your questions resonate with the exclamations of disbelief we have all engaged in over other scandals. How could they, then, or even we, now, have tolerated such hypocrisy and ignored the evil in our midst? Why did they compromise on matters of clear moral principle for the sake of not rocking the boat? How was society so rigid and closed that the obvious sources of rot and evil were unchallengeable?

"Isn't it true, Deputies, that it is easy to condemn past generations for their trade-offs, even as we justify our present day trade-offs? The evils and injustices of war at the birth of the State, the institutional abuse of children, the secrecy of exiled adoptions, the treatment of the mentally ill, emigration, economic failure, depression; the reasons to condemn the past are many indeed.

"But how will you answer if, for example, your children declare that the generation of the 1990s made repugnant compromises with paramilitary organisations? What if the minority voices of today become the moral consensus of tomorrow which berates today's supporters of the peace process for morally dubious and anti-social trade-offs? You will feel sore that the generation in power then will not understand the exigencies of the present situation. They will not understand that the balance of advantage in the circumstances of the time was judged to proceed in moral and political ambiguity for a time over paramilitarism.

"You politicians will feel aggrieved if retired civil servants then claim that all unpalatable trade-offs in the 1990s were political decisions. Civil servants will feel aggrieved if retired politicians say they were advised that all the alternatives were too risky and horrible to contemplate.

"Deputies, what you are investigating is the human condition, mine and yours. I wish you well in shining light on the darker side of society, and on the difficult trade-offs made by politicians elected to take responsibility for choosing among imperfect options. But don't forget to look at how these dilemmas were created and how I was, let us say, incentivised. And remember that I am as much part of society as you are its representatives."

Oliver O'Connor is managing editor, Fintel Publications