Sir, - The taxpayer lost £300 million pounds (£85.72 for every man, woman and child in the State) through the non-payment of DIRT tax on bogus non-resident accounts. This tax is just 15 per cent of the interest - which is just six or seven per cent of the money in the account.
Where did all the money in the accounts come from? If it was earned legally, and income tax was paid in full, there would be little need to squirrel it away in dodgy accounts.
If income tax (up to 50 per cent at the marginal rate) was not paid on the money deposited, then fools like me who pay our taxes in full have been robbed of thousands of pounds each. - Yours, etc., William Campbell,
Haroldville Avenue, Dublin 8.
