Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There is nothing to prevent the Ombudsman from making general remarks about the efficiency and fairness of the system and such remarks have been made in the past. In regard to the general evaluation of tax administration, it is not clear what role a tax advocate could play that is not already provided in the existing political and administrative structures. In countries which have independent taxpayer advocates, the role of the office is to deal with complaints by individuals about administrative matters and does not include addressing system or policy issues.

Apart from the role of the Ombudsman, existing customer complaint and review procedures and the statutory appeals process to the appeals commissioner, the working of the tax system can be discussed at various fora, including the partnership process. In addition to being required to formally report to my office, Revenue is subject to an annual audit examination by the Comptroller and Auditor General, who reports on taxes collected and systems, procedures and practices. The chairman of the Revenue Commissioners is also examined at length by the Committee of Public Accounts with regard to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General. At times there may well be service pressures, such as a computer breakdown. However, the amount of work in which the Revenue Commissioners are involved, the legislative reforms concerning self-assessment enacted in this House, the much improved relationship between tax professionals and the Revenue Commissioners, and the tax compliance culture that now pertains indicate a sea change compared to the position 20 years ago. I read a report recently that indicated the level of arrears is only 2%.

It may be true that the Revenue Commissioners' effort to modernise, computerise and have a system working to a standard deemed efficient by international criteria has necessitated a consumer focus. I assure the Deputy that the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners will seek, in every way possible, to ensure taxpayers generally receive a fair hearing and assessment and that their credits and entitlements are paid in good time. On foot of service pressures, the chairman sometimes contacts me and departmental officials seeking an increase in staff. We often try to provide for this given the nature of the work done by his office. While there is always room for improvement, there is certainly no institutional reluctance to advance this aspect of the office's work to a greater extent than might traditionally have been the case.

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