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GAZETTE
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MAY/JUNE 1995
Section 153 Finance Bill 1995
The first article on the now-famous
Section 153 of the Finance Bill, 1995
was published in the
Irish
Independent
on 7 April, 1995. The
article was printed prior to the
publication of the Bill. The heading of
the article was "Solicitors Warned:
Tell the Taxman or face Prison". The
article stated that lawyers and
accountants will face jail sentences
and heavy fines if they fail to tell the
Revenue Commissions about tax
dodging by their clients. It was
reported that this measure will be
included in the Finance Bill to be
published next week by Finance
Minister,
Ruairi Quinn.
The article
also stated as a result of an interview
by the writer of the article,
Brian
Dowling,
with the Director General,
"the move will spark widespread
opposition from solicitors and last
night the Director General of the Law
Society,
Ken Murphy,
said that they
would vehemently resist any attempts
to include solicitors within the
provisions of the Finance Bill."
The Finánce Bill was published on 12
May and a press release was issued by
the Law Society on 13 May.
The opposition of the Law Society
was reported in the
Irish Independent,
Irish Press
and the
Cork Examiner
on
14 April. The
Irish Independent
quoted from the press release that:
"the Bill would have an "adverse
affect" on the administration of justice
because clients would be inhibited
from disclosing to Irish Solicitors
relevant information about their
business affairs for fear of being
reported to the Revenue
Commissioners". The headline in the
Irish Press
read: "'Whistle-blower'
Finance Bill roundly condemned". It
was reported in the
Sunday Business
Post
on 16 April that the new
measures in the Finance Bill could be
counter productive and lead to a
greater concealment of fraud.
Business and Finance
published an
article headed "The Informers
Charter" which stated that the Law
Society was "gravely concerned"
about the Finance Bill. It stated that
the rights of clients to confidentiality
when seeking help from a solicitor
would be seriously undermined if this
proposal was enacted. The Southern
Law Association issued a press
release in opposition to S. 153 on 19
April which was covered in the
Cork
Examiner
on 20 April.
In the
Irish Times
on 21 April an
article was published in the
Business
Supplement
with the headline "TDs to
Face Dilemma In Offering Tax
Advice". The article quoted
Ken
Murphy
as saying that the proposed
section was "bad in principle,
unenforceable, probably
unconstitutional and may turn out to
be counter productive". The
Sunday
Business Post
published an article
headed "Solicitors considering
challenge on Finance Bill" on 23
April. The article quoted
Ken Murphy
as saying the "the Law Society in no
way condones tax evasion and any
advisors who get involved in tax
evasion. Any solicitor found to be
colluding with a client avoiding tax
runs the risk of a charge of
misconduct which carries the ultimate
sanction of being struck off the
Solicitors Roll by the High Court."
The
Irish Independent
published an
article on 27 April with the headline
"The Professional As Informer" and it
stated that lawyers and tax consultants
are furious about provisions in the
Finance Bill that could force them to
'shop' their clients for tax crimes or
face jail sentences.
The Dublin Solicitors Bar Association
issued a press release in opposition to
S.153 on 1 May and this was covered
in the
Irish Independent,
the
Irish
Times
and the
Irish Press.
On 3 May a
joint press release was issued by the
Law Society, the Institute of Taxation
and the CCABI. The press release
stated that "the professional bodies
announced that they were with regret
suspending their participation from
the Taxation Administration Liaison
Committee pending the resolution of
the professions concern with Section
153 of the Finance Bill 1995. This
was covered extensively on the RTE
TV 9 o'clock news and the story was
carried in the
Irish Times
and the
Irish
Independent
on 4 May 1995.
A press release was issued on 5 May
by the Law Society based on an
opinion of counsel that the section
was unconstitutional which stated that
solicitors would not comply with
S.153 if enacted in its present form. In
a live interview on Morning Ireland,
Ken Murphy stated that legal advice
had been obtained that Section 153
was unconstitutional and based on this
compelling legal opinion, it had been
decided by the Council of the Law
Society that solicitors should not
comply with Section 153 of the Bill.
98 FM news also carried a statement
to this effect by Ken Murphy,
Director General.
On 6 May 1995 the
Irish Times
printed an article headed "Quinn seeks
advice on legality of tax move" with a
subheading "threat of court challenge
by Law Society prompts action". The
article stated that a spokesman for the
Minister said that the AG would be
examining S.153 and that this move
followed yesterday's Law Society
recommendation that its members not
comply with Section 153 if it is
enacted as part of the Finance Bill
next month. A front page article of the
Sunday Business Post
on 7 May with
the headline "Tax Informer Plan Faces
Collapse" was written by
Mark
O'Connell
and
Aileen O'Toole.
It was
reported that "The A.G. has advised
the Government that any attempt to
compel lawyers to report suspected
tax improprieties under Section 153 of
the Finance Bill is unconstitutional."
The article stated that the Law
Society, in particular, has advised its
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