Should a Taoiseach be tax compliant?

[Leo]

Bertie now says he expects not to be able to get a tax clearance certifictae for 2 years.
Now his office needs painted. I will not be able to tender foor this job if I cant produce a cert yet he can run the bloody country.
My former GAA club in Meath has been approved a grant for building but cannot emply and contractor or architect who does not have a current cert. Yet Bertie can hold the top job.
Now forget about the niceties of an "aplication certificate". These facts are stark.
Is it acceptable in a so-called modern democracy?
Fr Ted is alive and well ......

[thebandit]

Do as I say, not as I do....

[Mentalman]

Have AIB been smitten by Bertie's poor record keeping

No. A colleague of mine worked on just that system for a major IT company, and he was 100% confident that the physical evidence still exists IF it ever entered the system in the first place. Basically the storage of the physical evidence is completely automated in one facility to the extent that a query at a computer terminal there will return the storage container that contains it, and then the user just opens the box and selects the required documentation....of course as I said earlier it has to exist in the first place.

[magickingdom]

course he should, it a disgrace. no other banana republic would put up with it..

[Pangurban]

The only people who can legally rule on who is or isnt tax compliant are the Revenue Commissioners. Until they declare him non-compliant, there is no story. Nothing to see here, movealong

[Bogball XV]

The only people who can legally rule on who is or isnt tax compliant are the Revenue Commissioners. Until they declare him non-compliant, there is no story. Nothing to see here, movealong

If they don't give him a tax clearance cert by 24th Feb, they have ruled his tax affairs are not in order.  For the time being they are content to wait until the tribunal writes its report on Ahern's dealings, simply because they want to wait and get everything, also we should bear in mind that Ahern has told the revenue the same story he has told the tribunal, thus it's as handy for the revenue to sit back and watch the tribunal expose the story as total nonsense.
I don't think Ahern should ever have been taoiseach, but at the same time I will feel sorry for him when he has to serve 4 months of a 1 year sentence, it's very harsh, and tbh it's probably his idiot advisers in the Drumcondra 'kitchen cabinet' who are the real culprits, their stupidity in telling him to brazen it out instead of coming clean several years ago will result in the greatest ignominy ever experienced by an Irish taoiseach (it's a good sign of irish democracry all the same, no sign of Chirac/Kohl/Berlusconi et al doing time).

[Pangurban]

Are you for real Bog-Ball, ach no, no one could be that naive

[Zapatista]

Shame on us for allowing this to continue.

[Bogball XV]

Are you for real Bog-Ball, ach no, no one could be that naive

On what basis can he avoid prosecution?  Burke was jailed for tax evasion on a similar scale to Ahern (in summing up the custodial sentence, the judge noted that it was because of who he was), Michael Collins has been given a suspended jail sentence for a false SIPO declaration, I really can't see Ahern avoiding jail, thusfar there is a possibility that he has:
- perjured himself in front of the tribunal
- evaded tax for 13/14 years
- engaged in corrupt activitites
- made 2 false SIPO declarations.

I presume it's not an offence to lie to the dail or on RTE, though crying when lying on RTE should be prosecutable?

I reckon they'll cut a deal and he'll only serve a few months though.

[Declan]

Sure paying tax is only for little people isn't it. Now don't lets all be unpatriotic and get stuck into poor old Bertie - Shure isn't he doing a great job

[thejuice]

We cant let him away without punishment, pity we didnt catch Haughey in the act. I've no vendetta against FF or Bertie personally but he's broken a law, he pays the full price, end of discussion.

[AZOffaly]

but he's broken a law, he pays the full price, end of discussion.

I agree. I would be a Fianna Fáil voter, albeit not one emotionally invested in it. I have cast votes for other parties in the past. However I think Bertie is rapidly becoming a hinderence to the party, rather than a benefit, which he was until this tribunal began to really expose some strange carry on to say the least. He now runs the risk of waiting too late to give his successor any time to repair the PR damage which is being done. If he cared about the party at all, he'd probably resign. Then again, maybe he cares more about Bertie, the public persona, rather than FF the party.

However, I presume you are missing an 'if' there in my quote. I don't think he's actually been found guilty of anything at all yet? In fact I don't think he's been charged with anything at all yet.

[Billys Boots]

Jaysus, youse Biffs can't wait to get your man into the saddle - show a bit of decorum ffs.

[GY Joe]

but he's broken a law, he pays the full price, end of discussion.

I agree. I would be a Fianna Fáil voter, albeit not one emotionally invested in it. I have cast votes for other parties in the past. However I think Bertie is rapidly becoming a hinderence to the party, rather than a benefit, which he was until this tribunal began to really expose some strange carry on to say the least. He now runs the risk of waiting too late to give his successor any time to repair the PR damage which is being done. If he cared about the party at all, he'd probably resign. Then again, maybe he cares more about Bertie, the public persona, rather than FF the party.

However, I presume you are missing an 'if' there in my quote. I don't think he's actually been found guilty of anything at all yet? In fact I don't think he's been charged with anything at all yet.

See, this is the problem I have with Bertie and Fianna Fail-lers. They care about, 1) themselves, 2) De Paaaaarty, 3) The country in that order.... And they cant even see that this is not the way it should be. Bertie's hubris and arrogance about being a man 'of de people' and being 'de last socialist' is coming back to smack him in his well fed, tax avoiding, bourgoise fat face and I for one hope he goes in the most humiliating way possible... See how his name and  Charlie 'The crook's' name are now always in the same paragraph..

[Louth Exile]

It will be his final legacy, just like his old Boss!!!