Charles Haughey, Capital gains anomaly went unpunished
The Moriarty Tribunal has begun investigating how the Revenue Commissioners assessed Charles Haughey for tax. Today, they looked at two particular incidents from the 1970s. The inquiry heard that Mr Haughey failed to settle these tax bills for almost 11 years, yet was not subjected to interest or penalties.
In 1977 Charles Haughey sold a farm in Ashbourne Rath Stud, making a profit of £50,000. In 1979 he received £300,000 from Patrick Gallagher for the sale of lands at Kinsealy, which was never completed. However, the Revenue Commissioners would have to wait 11 years, until 1986, before capital gains tax was paid on either of these deals and no interest or penalties arose.
The Tribunal is trying to find out if Mr Haughey was afforded any benefit or discretion in this regard. They also want to know why, when the Revenue Commissioners did receive payment of capital gains tax from Mr Haughey, that this did not prompt them to begin a full investigation of Mr Haughey.
Mr Jerry Healy, for the Tribunal, said that there did not seem to be any scrutiny of where Mr Haughey got the money to settle his tax debt, even though he was supposedly just in receipt of a Dáil salary. The Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners saw fit to get involved in dealings with Charles Haughey. This is also under scrutiny.
