Madam, - In January 1998 our then Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, despite all the evidence to the contrary, accused people of scaremongering about tax evasion. He said it was an insult to the vast majority of taxpayers to suggest that tax evasion was widespread and went on to make the fatuous statement that the sums uncovered were very small in the context of the level of tax paid each year.
Since 1998 special investigations by the Revenue Commissioners have recovered some €1.6 billion from over 87,000 tax evaders with every indication that further substantial sums are still to come.
When a senior Government Minister (as Mr McCreevy then was) is capable of giving voice to such blatant balderdash, is it any wonder that ministerial pronouncements generally are received with such scepticism? - Yours, etc.,
M.D. KENNEDY, Silchester Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin.