Last year the average PAYE worker paid 34,115 in income tax. Last year also saw a tax amnesty for rich tax didgers and big business which wrote off at least 500 million. This amount would have funded all the service charges in the country for the next ten years. The meeting was held up for half an hour while the accountants were given a lecture about how little tax the wealthy pay and how much is taken from working people. In Dublin a majority of eligible householders are ignoring the law and refusing to pay.
Similar figures are available elsewhere.
Yet this conference received only one and a half column inches in the Irish Times, and no mention in any other paper. Meanwhile the Finance Minister, Ruairi Quinn, was bringing in a new law which will require accountants to report any of their clients who they discover are breaking the law by trying to cheat on tax. The accountants protested by holding meetings and issuing press statements. This is a good example of the way reporting is carried out. TV, radio and newspapers publish very bland accounts of what is going on.