Two items of news concerning our Revenue Commissioners caught my eye during the week.
1. Publishing the names, addresses and amounts of tax defaulters. I have no problem with this, but most amounts were for small amounts of default (€600 or less). I wonder how many of these small amounts cost Revenue more to capture than what was brought in? Is there any merit in naming and shaming small amount defaulters? Personally, I believe it to be counter productive.
2. Conscience money was received. There was no summary of the cross-section of people paying amounts owed and all of it came in anonymously anyway. But, let's say Revenue made a few errors along the way. Does Revenue publish a list of its wrongful demands? (Pardon my bog standard English).
Mod:- If this has been discussed here before, please feel free to delete.
1. Publishing the names, addresses and amounts of tax defaulters. I have no problem with this, but most amounts were for small amounts of default (€600 or less). I wonder how many of these small amounts cost Revenue more to capture than what was brought in? Is there any merit in naming and shaming small amount defaulters? Personally, I believe it to be counter productive.
2. Conscience money was received. There was no summary of the cross-section of people paying amounts owed and all of it came in anonymously anyway. But, let's say Revenue made a few errors along the way. Does Revenue publish a list of its wrongful demands? (Pardon my bog standard English).
Mod:- If this has been discussed here before, please feel free to delete.