Fine Gael has claimed that the Revenue owes workers at least €1.5 billion in overpaid taxes from the past four years because PAYE earners were not claiming back money due to them. The party suggested that taxpayers were being ripped off by the Revenue because it made no effort to identify refunds due from unclaimed allowances for spending on health, rent, home-carers and bin charges.
The party's enterprise spokesman, Mr Phil Hogan, said the Government made no effort to address the overpayment of tax by compliant PAYE workers.
However, the Revenue immediately rejected any suggestion that taxpayers were being ripped off. PAYE taxpayers need have no doubts about its "enthusiasm" for treating all taxpayers fairly, it said.
"The vast majority of PAYE workers receive their full entitlement each year and these are reflected in the tax credit certificates which issue at the beginning of each year."
It said that the Revenue made every effort to make sure taxpayers were aware of what they could claim. "Revenue can only allow tax credits or reliefs on the basis of information which is known to us. Where repayments are due they are almost always based on information which only the taxpayer knows about."
Fine Gael moved yesterday to start a publicity campaign to encourage taxpayers to check whether they were entitled to refunds by examining their records.
The effort ties in with Fine Gael's by-election campaigns in Meath and Kildare North, where the party has immediate plans to distribute more than 50,000 leaflets highlighting the money due from unclaimed allowances.
Fine Gael's finance spokesman, Mr Richard Bruton, accused the Revenue of being party to a rip- off, arguing that the body made no effort to identify the refunds due, even where information could be easily accessed.