Tax amnesty figure not explained fully

Mr Ray Burke was unable to give a detailed explanation when questioned at the Flood tribunal yesterday of why he provided a figure of £5,085 for undeclared income in the tax amnesty.

The former Fianna Fail minister said this figure was a "guesstimate" based on deposit interest earned. "As I explained, Mr chairman, many times, my life and my accounts were totally intermingled between personal and private."

The tribunal heard that Mr Burke earned £115,000 in deposit interest on political donations between 1982 and 1997. Deposit interest earned on political donations was not subject to tax, said Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, so why did Mr Burke produce a figure of £5,085 in undeclared income?

Mr Burke referred to money from shares and a bequest from his father and said he came to the view that a certain amount of the interest that had been accruing would have been "personal" interest as opposed to political expenses.

"I made a calculation as to what I thought my responsibility would, in fact, potentially could have been, in relation to this intermingled fund," he said. Mr Burke added that the £5,085 figure was "a potential liability, not an actual liability".

He said he was trying to do the right thing in relation to clearing his affairs and wanted to honour his tax liabilities. "And that's what I did."

Asked how he came up with such a specific figure, he said it was not "scientific", it was in relation to a "guesstimate".

Mr Hanratty reminded the tribunal that the amnesty terms were stringent and that if a declaration did not include all income, then he would be liable to severe penalties. "I want to know what account did you earn the deposit interest on that you are now declaring as having previously been undeclared," Mr Hanratty said.

Pointing out that Mr Burke's political and personal funds were intermingled, Mr Aidan Walsh SC, for Mr Burke, said it was not possible to "attach a sticker to each £20 note and say for definite that that £20 is therefore a personal £20 note or a political £20 note just by reference in how in fact that £20 was spent".

Lawyers for the tribunal had earlier argued that the "overwhelming majority" of payments made out of Mr Burke's current account did not have anything to do with political activity.

Mr Burke took issue with the chairman, Mr Justice Flood, when he used the word "confession" in connection with Mr Burke's amnesty declaration. "I confessed to nothing," he said.