Data on low-tax rich are incredible... but no surprise

PERHAPS he will prove me wrong, but I’m more convinced than ever that Leo Varadkar is all style and no substance.

He has so far shown himself to be little more than a master of the pithy soundbite. For all his claims about wanting to lead a party to represent people who ‘get up early in the morning’, there has been precious little concrete evidence of it. But now he has the ideal opportunity to

put his money where his mouth is, so to speak. The statistics revealed in the Comptroller & Auditor General’s most recent report are quite staggering.

Just to quickly recap, they show that one in four of Ireland’s wealthiest people – individuals worth in excess of €50million – declared a taxable income in 2015 that was lower than the average industrial wage. More than 40% of the super-rich grouping declared an income of less than €125,000. But while these figures are incredible, they are not in the least bit surprising. Everyone knows that there are specialist lawyers and accountants who use every trick in the book to help their wealthy clients to avoid paying their fair share.

Worse still, it is also commonly accepted that the taxman always goes for easy targets and the low-hanging fruit.

This simply isn’t good enough. Not only it is grossly unfair, it is also directly contrary to the Taoiseach’s insistence that he wants to protect those of us who keep the show on the road in this country.

So if his earlier comments are to carry any weight, Mr Varadkar should immediately call in the top brass from the Department of Finance, the Revenue Commissioners and wherever else to put them on notice that this needs to stop. Otherwise, all his solemn commitments will be nothing more than hot air.