European Tax Meeting in Dublin Castle
The Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy T.D.,today (14/04/04) opened a meeting of the Heads of Tax Administrations from twenty-five European countries in Dublin Castle.
The Conference, organised by the Revenue Commissioners, has a theme of 'Influencing taxpayer behaviour to influence taxpayer compliance'. This is the first time that all 25 Heads of Tax Administrations of the Member States and Acceding States have met together. Representatives of the European Commission will also attend the meeting.
The meeting will focus on the key role that Taxation authorities play in the social and economic life of a country and will highlight the different influences on taxpayer compliance.
In opening the meeting Minister McCreevy reminded delegates that a significant factor in positively influencing taxpayer compliance is that most citizens have a sense of civic responsibility and clearly recognise the linkages between the payment of tax and the creation of infrastructure and provision of services by their Governments. The Minister welcomed the fact that some Tax Administrations are putting greater effort into explaining such linkages:
'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'
The Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Frank Daly, who is hosting the Dublin Meeting, stated that the Group would focus on sharing best practice and benchmarking among all the countries represented:
'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.'
Ends 14/04/04