Re: Are cheques chassed up...?
I think there are two issues for somebody considering evading tax:
1. Will I get caught?
2. How bad is it, is it "in the Lawlor Club".
My thoughts:
1. The chances are very high that you will be caught, eventually. With finite enforcement resources, it's actually in the Revenue's interest to wait a few years before going after you (I predict landlords traced through tenants' rent relief will be the next biggie.). When they do come after you, how will you explain where the lump sum has come from? Is it worth the risk of severe penalties, or even imprisonment? How will that be helping your family?
2. I used to think that there were levels of tax evasion, that a small amount of tax evasion was ok, that everybody does it, and sure there are worse out there. This is a little bit like saying a small amount of shop lifting is ok, sure everybody helps themselves to the till in their local once a week (Credit to Rainyday as I think this is his simile.).
I began to realise that by participating in tax evasion you only contribute to the culture that allows the big guys to continue doing it. It's a slippery slope, you could be the big guy tomorrow. And you lose all rights to complain about the behaviour of today's big guys or cutbacks in health, education etc.
It's like falsifying an insurance claim. You aren't hiding YOUR money from the state, you're stealing from other compliant taxpayers, from the old lady across the road on a widows pension, from the child going to school in a leaking prefab with an outside toilet, from the troubled youth who is housed in Mountjoy because there's nowhere else suitable.
That's how I feel anyway. How do you feel Brian?