Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 13, line 5, after "ACT" to insert the following:

"TO MAKE PROVISION IN RELATION TO A TAXPAYERS ADVOCATE OFFICE,".

The purpose of this amendment, which I have proposed on previous occasions, is to have the remit of the Office of the Ombudsman extended to provide for a report in regard to taxpayers' rights and to have what exists in many countries, namely, a taxpayers' advocate. While the Revenue Commissioners' job is to bring in tax to the best of their ability, nonetheless, in many jurisdictions, there is a counterbalancing office the function of which is to ensure, as far as possible, that taxpayers also avail of their rights.

Since I introduced this proposal some years ago, I acknowledge that the Revenue Commissioners have vastly improved their systems of information to taxpayers on their rights and entitlements. However, by and large, unless taxpayers claim their allowances under the tax code within a four-year period, they lose their entitlements in regard to certain types of allowances such as medical expenses, refuse charges, trade union subscriptions and a variety of other deductions which taxpayers can legitimately claim against their income tax payment. On the other hand, as we know to our cost in regard to the banks and developers who have companies or who are trading as individual developers, they are allowed to carry forward indefinitely all of their losses and to carry back the losses for one year against, for instance, tax paid in 2008 and 2009. Therefore, it is unlikely that banks or most developers in this country will pay tax for at least a decade because they are allowed to carry forward all of their entitlements regarding tax-based losses until such time as they have exhausted all of those losses against future profits.

However, the individual ordinary taxpayer has only a four year period in which to claim entitlements in respect of expenses in certain areas which may be off-set against income tax, but they must do so within a four year period unless there is a specific legal provision. This is one area which, when one compares the world of the banker and banks and developers as companies or sole traders, there is a total imbalance between the manner in which the Revenue Commissioners deal with the banks and their entitlement to write down and claim back credit against losses they have incurred, and the entitlement of an ordinary taxpayer to claim for expenses he or she has incurred. A relatively limited number of expenses can be off-set against income tax. We have a completely different way of treating the individual citizen who does not have tax advisers and accountants and a powerful banking corporation or individual who is the chief executive or the member of a board of a bank.

Today, we have seen public records regarding extraordinary levels of expenses which were paid to departing bank chief executives, which makes most ordinary taxpayers groan and say, "Here we go again". The people in the golden circle depart with enormous golden handshakes. They have the wherewithal to employ tax advisers and get the maximum advantage possible out of their tax situation. The proposal from the Labour Party is that an advocate be established to argue on behalf of individual taxpayers, in particular those who are not rich, are in ordinary employment and do not have the wherewithal to employ tax advisers and accountants.

I am at a loss to understand why the Minister and Department of Finance have chosen to turn their faces against this proposal which would bring a level of entitlement and right in the pursuit of a fair and just tax system for ordinary taxpayers. Instead, our tax system trains every fibre and muscle to benefit the people who can afford professional advice, can buy into property-based tax breaks and those in the banks who will not be paying tax for a decade or two to come because everything they have lost can be carried forward indefinitely and written off against their future tax liabilities. In the case of people in the PAYE system, unless they submit a claim in a particular year, it very often dies in our tax code.

The proposal for an advocate for taxpayers would introduce more fairness, equality and remedies into the tax system for the ordinary person who does not have the kind of resources which the golden circle and wealthy in our society have and enjoy, in terms of tax matters. Were the Minister to take a hard approach to the golden circle and the wealthy bankers and developers regarding the generous tax regime which they have enjoyed and which, in many ways, has brought this country to the edge of financial ruin and beyond, one could say at least there was a consistency in what the Minister proposes. However, he is not doing that.

In the limited measures of the Bill regarding tax exiles, the manner in which the measures are drawn up are an accountants' or tax consultants' dream because such a wide interpretation is available, in terms of the statute which is being introduced. We will have to wait and see how it works but I strongly suspect tax advisers will have no difficulty in advising clients how to significantly mitigate the measure. The taxpayers' advocate would deal with the ordinary man and woman who pays tax. I do not understand why Fianna Fáil has turned its face, in successive years, together with officials in the Department of Finance, against a small measure of a more level playing pitch and equality for the ordinary taxpayer.

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