Ireland Hosts European Conference On Taxpayer Compliance

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

15 April 2004

Dublin Castle yesterday saw Irish Finance Minister Charlie Mcreevy open a tax conference involving the Heads of Tax Administrations from 25 European countries which focusing on taxpayer compliance.

It is the first time that all 25 Heads of Tax Administrations of the member states and acceding states have met together and representatives of the European Commission will also attend the meeting.

Opening the meeting, Mr McCreevy stated that the most significant factor influencing tax compliance was the public’s recognition of the linkage between payment of tax and the provision of services and infrastructure.

"It should surely be possible for Government and Tax Administrations to talk about these linkages in a non-political way where the debate focuses on the place of taxation in society rather than political debate about the tax burden or the tax policies of any one political party," observed Mr McCreevy.

The Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Frank Daly added: "This meeting is a unique opportunity to build co-operation among the 25 Tax Administrations of an enlarged EU at a time when we are all making new efforts to simplify our tax systems and also determined to work together to fight tax evasion."

“Compliant taxpayers in particular are entitled to the assurance that if they pay their share so also will others. This requires us not just to be effective in tackling evasion but also to make sure people know we're doing it," he concluded.

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