Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The strongest argument in favour of the establishment of an advocate system is the persistent refusal of the Revenue Commissioners to conduct an appraisal of the overpayment of tax by PAYE workers. The reality is the Revenue Commissioners have all the information at their finger tips. They know the amount of activity which occurs in doctors' surgeries, nursing homes and in these other areas and the amount of rent returned by landlords. They have the data that would allow them to make a well-informed judgment as the extent to which PAYE workers overpay, not some broad-based or speculative estimate, as the Minister indicated from the notes he received.

The Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance have never taken this seriously. It is a bit like the Central Bank beginning to cotton on to the needs of consumers as well as the needs of banks. The Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance are belatedly cottoning on to the fact that we need to be conscious of the people who compliantly pay their taxes all the time as well as those who deliberately seek to evade paying their taxes. The Revenue Commissioners need to recognise that their mandate is not only to pursue those miscreants who will not pay but to ensure that people who are entitled to refunds and who genuinely incur tax allowable expenses get them.

I cannot understand this argument coming repeatedly from the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance that the numbers would be large, that they would be speculative in nature and that we should not do this. That is just sticking one's head in the sand and saying to ordinary compliant taxpayers that we are not particularly worried about their situation. If this money was outstanding from people who had some overseas scam, the Revenue Commissioners would rightly pursue the matter through the High Court to try to establish the scale of entitlement and the scale of tax which might be being concealed from them.

There is an imbalance here. However, the Minister has begun to recognise that because some of the changes he has made in trying to give more tax reliefs at source are clearly conscious of the fact that the way it had been done for generations was not delivering to ordinary compliant taxpayers.

Those on the Minister's side of the House and those in official circles who advise him need to recognise they cannot have it both ways. They cannot say we will not have a tax advocate, do any of the advocacy, dig out what might be overpayment tax, have accurate estimates or create effective vehicles through which people can get their money back.

As I said before, I calculated on the back of an envelope that over a four year period of entitlement, €1.5 billion is due to PAYE taxpayers. If Revenue said that was an accurate estimate, people would move mountains to ensure money got back to those who rightfully own it. We need to see that change in mindset. The more I hear people resist the notion of carrying out an accurate estimate, the more convinced I become that advocacy is the only route down which to go. It looks as if someone with the powers of the Ombudsman is required to take the initiative in this area.

Some 91,000 people claim the home carer's allowance. Are we to seriously believe there are only 91,000 stay-at-home spouses looking after children up to the end of full-time education, the time up to which they are entitled to claim the home carer's allowance? I do not believe that is the actual figure. Some people are not claiming that allowance. The number of people claiming rent relief is far lower than the number of rented properties, as the Central Statistics Office will indicate. Much rent relief remains unclaimed. DIRT is another area. The number of refunds of DIRT is derisory and it is clear people are not claiming it. Not everyone claims relief on trade union subscriptions. The Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service did a sum on the back of an envelope which showed that €45 million remains unclaimed in respect of relief on trade union subscriptions. That would not be major expenditure in comparison with some of the other areas. We need to make some high profile changes.

I warmly welcome the Minister's decision to accept the medical relief change which we debated at length on Committee Stage. Not only does it mean people will know that every time they spend money on medication or doctor appointments they can claim relief but it also means the Minister and the Revenue Commissioners can set up simplified schemes at source to ensure the deductions are made. This is significant not only because of what it will do as of today and for the rest of this year but it means the Minister can now work on developing schemes which will be much more effective. I know from replies to parliamentary questions that the Minister is moving in that direction. That concession the Minister has made is a good day's work and shows the hours we spend on Committee Stage are sometimes worthwhile.

I would like the Minister to ask the Revenue Commissioners to do a serious study on the extent of overpayment by PAYE workers. Let us work off the best objective information and then see if we can devise better policies. If that was done, perhaps it would remove the need for this tax advocate. However, for the time being, this amendment is very much needed.

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