The Revenue Commissioners' main deterrent against tax fraud, the use of the audit, has been halved since 1995 to save on administration costs, IMPACT's annual conference was told yesterday.
As a result, "planned, systematic and widespread tax evasion remains a feature of the Irish tax system," according to Ms Mary Farrell, secretary of IMPACT's Association of Tax Inspectors branch.
Ms Farrell also pointed out that the number of businesses had increased by 60 per cent between 1995 and 1999, while staff numbers had fallen.
