The Labour Party will seek to alter the manner in which tax appeals commissioners are appointed and make their decisions open to public scrutiny.
Amendments to the Finance Bill by the party's spokesman on finance, Mr Derek McDowell, would require greater openness and accountability in the appointment and operation of taxation appeals commissioners if they are accepted by the Coalition Government.
Mr McDowell said the decision by one of the two serving Appeals Commissioners to reduce to zero the £2 million tax bill levied on the former taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, by the Revenue Commissioners highlighted their enormous power and influence. The Commissioner in question was the brother-in-law of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and had been appointed by him in 1992.
This was probably the first time most members of the public had heard about the tax appeals commissioners, the Labour Party spokesman said, because they operated in circumstances of almost total secrecy; did not publish details of the cases they heard; and kept no records of the numbers of cases. This was a totally unacceptable situation because of the potential consequences of their decisions on other taxpayers.
In future, Mr McDowell said, appointments should be subject to public scrutiny. The Minister should make an order specifying the person to be appointed; the qualifications held and the salary to be paid. The appointment should be ratified by a resolution from both Houses of the Oireachtas.
The powers of the 1998 Finance Act, which gave Commissioners discretion to publish details of cases where they considered it appropriate, should be changed to an obligation to publish an annual report. Such a report would contain all details of cases heard, subject to an obligation to protect, insofar as possible, the identity of the taxpayers concerned.
The appointment of appeals commissioners to review decisions of the Revenue Commissioners was acceptable, Mr McDowell said. But it was not reasonable that such crucial appointments be made at the whim of the Minister for Finance and that their decisions should not be accessible to the media and the public.