Girl's letter to Ray Darcy show today...

john_d_baptist

did anyone hear the letter that was read out on the Ray Darcy show this morning? It was from a girl whos father had to close his business and lay off 8 people because of ill health (lymphoma). The family were forced to sell of their cars and other stuff related to the business to cover health care costs... then, unexpectedly the Revenue Commissioners sent him a bill detailing money that they felt he still owed. With no means of income, the family gathered together whatever they could to cover the bill and they fell short by 1,000... so the revenue were sent around to the house (after days of continuous phone calls and threatening letters), and started to help themselves to items from the family home. When the family tried to intervene, the Gardai were called in to prevent the revenue from carrying out their 'work'.... shortly after, this girl's dad died suddenly of a heart attack; it would be a safe bet to assume that it was stress related.

WHAT SORT OF A F**KING COUNTRY HAS THIS PLACE TURNED INTO?!

4zn76tysfajdxp

This might seem like a stupid question, but why didn't he pay his taxes?

PirateShampoo

A country where if your poor your ****ed.

CreepingDeath

Sounds like he didn't pay the VAT.

I saw a recent UK Dragons Den episode, where the Dragons said there's two people you always have to pay... your doctor and the VAT man.

The VAT / revenue have the power to confiscate goods.

shqipshume

Oh wow that is really sad

Its a disgrace these are the reasons,Its time Irish need to stand up and be counted and not let the dictators destroy people like they did that poor man and his family

niceirishfella

Jake Faithful Teflon wrote: »

This might seem like a stupid question, but why didn't he pay his taxes?

Nice one Jake Faithful Teflon, Real Classy.:rolleyes:

PirateShampoo

Jake Faithful Teflon wrote: »

This might seem like a stupid question, but why didn't he pay his taxes?

Well he wasnt a banker or a TD so the revenue told him he had to pay them himself.

shqipshume

Jake Faithful Teflon wrote: »

This might seem like a stupid question, but why didn't he pay his taxes?

It looks like he paid them and just owed a bit more then he thought.As a owner of a small business its easy enough to make the mistake.Then catch up when its brought to your attention.However in this case the poor man hadn't got the chance.

Deedsie

john_d_baptist wrote: »

did anyone hear the letter that was read out on the Ray Darcy show this morning? It was from a girl whos father had to close his business and lay off 8 people because of ill health (lymphoma). The family were forced to sell of their cars and other stuff related to the business to cover health care costs... then, unexpectedly the Revenue Commissioners sent him a bill detailing money that they felt he still owed. With no means of income, the family gathered together whatever they could to cover the bill and they fell short by 1,000... so the revenue were sent around to the house (after days of continuous phone calls and threatening letters), and started to help themselves to items from the family home. When the family tried to intervene, the Gardai were called in to prevent the revenue from carrying out their 'work'.... shortly after, this girl's dad died suddenly of a heart attack; it would be a safe bet to assume that it was stress related.

WHAT SORT OF A F**KING COUNTRY HAS THIS PLACE TURNED INTO?!

I heard it, did anyone hear the head of the revenue on? What a Dcik...

We are supposedly a welcoming warm race of people. The treatment people are receiving when they are in dire situations is nothing short of disgusting.

"Old Ireland has changed, Changed Utterly a terrible s***e hole is born"

PirateShampoo

PirateShampoo wrote: »

A country where if your poor your ****ed.

What the fuk are you on about? Our social welfare is so good, it's strangling the country's finances.


And how can we have sympathy for a man who didn't pay taxes when he was able to, got called up on it afterwards when he couldn't pay and then his whole family/relations had to try help him cover it.

He's a tool for letting that happen.

destroyer

it does

prendy

shqipshume wrote: »

Oh wow that is really sad

Its a disgrace these are the reasons,Its time Irish need to stand up and be counted and not let the dictators destroy people like they did that poor man and his family

not being heartless or anything but if he paid his taxes the revenue wouldnt come around. I doubt they came around for 1,000 anyway.

My dad has his own business and we have never had a vist from the Revenue. despite the tough times the business is currently going through the taxman has to be paid.

jenny2hat

Woah that's so sad

Spud83

LOL, the revenue did not call around to his house. The revenue would have referred his case to the sheriff's office after giving them repeated warnings to settle his bill. If they had talked to the revenue earlier, and sorted out a payment scheme this wouldn't have happened. I have seen companies in the same position, and it takes along time before it reaches this stage.

The sheriff's office don't care about sob stories they hear them all the time, and have no idea which ones are real and which ones are fake. There job is recoup the money owed, thats it.

I also like how the company had to close because of ill health. Eh no the company had to close because it was going down the crappier, evidence by the taxes not being paid, and the fact the other eight employees were not able to run the business on their own. Also sounds like they sold the business down the river to pay for the health bills.

Maybe he should have paid his taxes, maybe he should have kept open communication with the revenue, maybe he should have got health insurance. Maybe the family should look at who was really responsible for the "stress" that caused the death,

Wazdakka

Jake Faithful Teflon wrote: »

This might seem like a stupid question, but why didn't he pay his taxes?

niceirishfella wrote: »

Nice one Jake Faithful Teflon, Real Classy.:rolleyes:

I agree with Jake Faithful Teflon...

Are we supposed to bend the law for this guy because he had a daughter who could write or something?

It sounds like a pretty sh1tty situation allright,
But it probably could have been avoided by not trying to cheat the tax man.

Brought it on themselves imo.

EL_Loco

+ no health insurance?

jenny2hat

jenny2hat wrote: »

Woah that's so sad

Why? What part is sad?

Not paying his taxes? His family having to pay his taxes for him?
Or his heard attack? He was sick anyway.

snubbleste

What would a girl be doing listening to the radio between 9 and 12. Sure she should be in school?

Mr. Presentable

I heard it.
I sympathise with the family for their loss.
The predicament is largely self-made.

I run a small business. First man paid every two months is Collector General.
Before me, before suppliers. I do not want Revenue on my case.

The Sherrifs are appointed by the Courts. The Revenue only go to court as a very last resort, when all other avenues are explored. In my experience. I have worked for a company who had the Sherrifs in, twice. They were very understanding of the employees, but took everything that wasn't nailed down that might raise a pound in auction.

I was surprised the CG came on the radio. He had no time to prepare, and had D'Arcy shouting him down every time he tried to answer.

shqipshume

prendy wrote: »

not being heartless or anything but if he paid his taxes the revenue wouldnt come around. I doubt they came around for 1,000 anyway.

My dad has his own business and we have never had a vist from the Revenue. despite the tough times the business is currently going through the taxman has to be paid.

I know how it works,And its up to you to pay at a certain time of year that has been outlined,and if any more owed you review and pay.Obviously with the business going bust he had made an error.It happens.
And are you serious this is Ireland anyone they can screw now they will and would go after you for a comb
I hardly think it was more than 2 thousand if all they were doing was taking items belonging to the family other wise would have been the house they would have took.

Vegeta

Deleted User wrote: »

What the fuk are you on about? Our social welfare is so good, it's strangling the country's finances.

And how can we have sympathy for a man who didn't pay taxes when he was able to, got called up on it afterwards when he couldn't pay and then his whole family/relations had to try help him cover it.

He's a tool for letting that happen.

Wow you're a friendly fella

CreepingDeath

If it was only for €1000 then the bank would give him a loan.
I'd say he maxed out his overdraft too.

These people took a risk to go into business, and were driving BMW 4x4's and buying huge houses 5 years ago. I've only a finite amount of sympathy for them. They probably owe other businesses in the area money too.

The girl is just upset cos she's seeing her inheritance disappear.

PirateShampoo

Deleted User wrote: »

What the fuk are you on about? Our social welfare is so good, it's strangling the country's finances.


And how can we have sympathy for a man who didn't pay taxes when he was able to, got called up on it afterwards when he couldn't pay and then his whole family/relations had to try help him cover it.

He's a tool for letting that happen.

There sympathy because the bailiffs came to his house for a bill of €1000. Now the man is dead.

Its a shame they didn't have the same mind set for the €85 billion the banks asked for.

And i wouldn't know about our fabulous welfare system, I'm not entitled to it, we have been living off the girlfriends wages for over a year, because even though we are classed as married on welfare terms we are not classed as married on tax breaks terms.

GavRedKing

Sad story, Revenue guys were just sent to do a job but the Revenue should have had more cop on, surely if they fell short after attempting to raise the moeny they owed they could have cut them a bit of slack and waited until they got the rest.

At least the family tried to pay it back and not mess them around.

Spud83

shqipshume wrote: »

I know how it works,And its up to you to pay at a certain time of year that has been outlined,and if any more owed you review and pay.Obviously with the business going bust he had made an error.It happens.
And are you serious this is Ireland anyone they can screw now they will and would go after you for a comb
I hardly think it was more than 2 thousand if all they were doing was taking items belonging to the family other wise would have been the house they would have took.

The house may be owned by the bank and therefore they can't take that.

john_d_baptist

OP here again.... theres a co-presenter on the Ray Darcy show (sounds like a nice guy), he went on to explain how his family in Cork had a newspaper article framed on the living room wall of an eviction attempt back in 1885, where the police arrived but decided against evicting the family on humanitarian grounds because the lady of the house was very sick and in bed upstairs... apparently the police and authorities used to arrive with a doctor. On this occassion the doctor declared that a family member was too unwell......
This was under Her Majesty's rule, and our fore fathers gave their lives in a bid to rid ourselves of British rule.... Im not a stark raving republican, or anything like it, I just feel that this country is being destroyed from within

4zn76tysfajdxp

CreepingDeath wrote: »

The girl is just upset cos she's seeing her inheritance disappear.

Try not to drag this thread into the gutter, please.

shqipshume

snubbleste wrote: »

What would a girl be doing listening to the radio between 9 and 12. Sure she should be in school?

Probably off school beacause father died.

Mr. Presentable

shqipshume wrote: »

It looks like he paid them and just owed a bit more then he thought.As a owner of a small business its easy enough to make the mistake.Then catch up when its brought to your attention.However in this case the poor man hadn't got the chance.

Rubbish. I'm sorry, but that's rubbish. You actually do not know the true circumstances - how much was owed, for how long. You are getting one side of a story - a "victims" side. In running a small business it is actually easy to keep track of taxes due. I'd say he had every chance.

shqipshume

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

The house may be owned by the bank and therefore they can't take that.

I doubt the bank own it all only part,which in that case they would turf them out sell the house and take their money.

Vegeta

Vegeta wrote: »

Wow you're a friendly fella

Realistic. I can feel sorry for the family but not in a thread that makes the tax man out to be the devil. As other posters have pointed out, what happened with the revenue commisioners was their last resort. It should have been avoided.
The man made 8 people unemployed and didn't pay his taxes.

PirateShampoo wrote: »

There sympathy because the bailiffs came to his house for a bill of €1000. Now the man is dead.

Its a shame they didn't have the same mind set for the €85 billion the banks asked for.

So we have sympathy for someone having bailiffs at their house yet we slate people who dodge tax. How does that work?

Why is it a shame? I don't want to live in Iceland, we need the banks to get the money.

seamus

I agree with Frada here, heartless or not. Sounds like the entire case has been shortened down into a few lines in order to make it appear even more heart-tugging. You'd swear it took place over a matter of weeks.

Basic facts I took from those few lines:

He didn't have health insurance, but chose to go privately anyway, therefore choosing to bankrupt himself.

He took the business of closing down his business on his own shoulders, giving no regard to the legal and financial aspects of it - i.e. paying the VAT he owed.

Revenue spent months asking him to contact them to arrange a payment schedule for that final €1k, but he ignored them or told them to feck off, so they went to court and secured an order to reposses items.

Racked with ill-health, the man's heart failed and he died from complications of lymphoma. His family are understandly angry and upset and are looking for something to blame it on besides, "the facts of life".

Let this be a lesson to everyone over 30:

If the choice this year is between a new telly and health insurance, go for the health insurance, for fnck's sake.

flanzer

I remember in the mid-90s, the sheriff came around to our house looking for money off my Dad for a £8,000 BIK bill due to a company car. A bill which he knew nothing about. Between the accountant and an simple oversight on my Dads part, it was missed. It can happen in business. He had 2 weeks to pay up or they would start repossessing posessions. My mam cried solid for 2 weeks. Somehow, they managed to cough up the cash.

I can completely sypathise with the girl.

It makes me sick at what's going on. People getting prison for missing mortgage repayments yet Sean Fitz can play regular golf and doesn't repay a thing.

Bertie's make-up bill in his last year in charge could have cleared that woman's father's tax bill 28 times over. It's a joke.

granturismo

john_d_baptist wrote: »

When the family tried to intervene, the Gardai were called in to prevent the revenue from carrying out their 'work'....!

The Gardai were called by the Sheriff to allow him to carry out his 'work'

Sending the Sheriff to collect €1000 is ridiculous.

If this is true, we're a nation of emotionless begrudgers who bring down governments when they tax children shoes and get worked up over the right to drink drive and replay a soccer match. If this was France or Iceland we'd be out on the streets and the government would be out.

niceirishfella

Wheres the humanity here?

Some stone cold comments from anonomous people trying to act hard - pityful.

irishvamp90

I didnt hear it but would i be right in saying he had his warnings,but being a stubborn old man he kinda went into bull mccabe mode

Spud83

shqipshume wrote: »

I doubt the bank own it all only part,which in that case they would turf them out sell the house and take their money.

As far as I know the bank own the house until the mortgage is fully paid off. The revenue/sheriffs office can not take something that does not belong to whoever the court action is against. For example I worked in a company that rented its computer equipment the sheriffs office came knocking one day, and they couldn't take that equipment once we showed them the rental agreement.

Also its much harder to get an eviction order, rather than a repossession order, especially when its a family home.

flanzer

Jake Faithful Teflon wrote: »

This might seem like a stupid question, but why didn't he pay his taxes?

As a matter of interest are you self employed or do you work for a company, where all you PAYE taxes and PRSI payments are done for you?

The tax system can be so complex, regardless of how good you accountant is, that oversights can happen

Wucking Fanker

I think there's a few facts missing from the OP's story. The bill of 1000 is what is outstanding now, after the letter being read. What happened prior to this was that the Sheriff came and took everything that wasn't nailed to the floor, including the poor man's scooter, which he used to get around in outside. The man was wheelchair-bound (or at least that's the impression I got) and could do nothing but watch while the Sheriff even checked the fridge to see if it could be moved.

I'm not sure that his mobility, or lack thereof, had anything to do with him being able to with him being unable to pay his taxes. It may well be that he refrained from paying them. But, since I don't know all the facts of the story, i won't comment either way. Some of the 'hard-asses' on here should probably do the same, unless you know for sure he evaded tax.

shqipshume

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

As far as I know the bank own the house until the mortgage is fully paid off. The revenue/sheriffs office can not take something that does not belong to whoever the court action is against. For example I worked in a company that rented its computer equipment the sheriffs office came knocking one day, and they couldn't take that equipment once we showed them the rental agreement.

Also its much harder to get an eviction order, rather than a repossession order, especially when its a family home.

We all know the banks revenue and tds and developers etc.. scratch each others backs.

ghosttown

Problem here seems to me to be the definition of a 'sherriff'.... i 'think' these are subcontractors paid on a commission of what they collect, basically state sponsored debt collectors, who don't overly care. From what little i know of them, he must have gotten them fairly pissed to do what they did, they know he's not going anywhere - some open discussions and they'd give him more time (not much).
Don't think we got the full story tbh.

Spud83

niceirishfella wrote: »

Wheres the humanity here?

Some stone cold comments from anonomous people trying to act hard - pityful.

I'm not trying to act hard, I'm am cold hearted, especially when people fail to take some personal responsibility.

4zn76tysfajdxp

flanzer wrote: »

As a matter of interest are you self employed or do you work for a company, where all you PAYE taxes and PRSI payments are done for you?

None of the above.

Sleipnir

niceirishfella wrote: »

Wheres the humanity here?

Some stone cold comments from anonomous people trying to act hard - pityful.

Not on here!
Losing your father because he didn't pay some taxes is pretty bad.

To all those people who said "tough, if he had paid his taxes he might still be alive" can you picture your own father coming to you and saying he screwed up the tax he owed a few years ago and they've been chasing him for the last while. He's had to sell the car etc and they still won't leave him alone?

Now picture him in a coffin and say;
"You should have paid your taxes Dad"

shqipshume

flanzer wrote: »

As a matter of interest are you self employed or do you work for a company, where all you PAYE taxes and PRSI payments are done for you?

The tax system can be so complex, regardless of how good you accountant is, that oversights can happen

+1
Exactly,I had to do the books for a woman i know who had her own small run business and although paying her taxes, she owed some more when her accounts were done.

Sleipnir

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

I'm not trying to act hard, I'm am cold hearted, especially when people fail to take some personal responsibility.

Bull****. People are only cold-hearted when it's not happening to them.

phasers

This seems a bit weird but I'm not sure why. The entire story sounds like something off Eastenders... Something's not right.

Spud83

Sleipnir wrote: »

Not on here!
Losing your father because he didn't pay some taxes is pretty bad.

To all those people who said "tough, if he had paid his taxes he might still be alive" can you picture your own father coming to you and saying he screwed up the tax he owed a few years ago and they've been chasing him for the last while. He's had to sell the car etc and they still won't leave him alone?

Now picture him in a coffin and say;
"You should have paid your taxes Dad"

Well I wouldn't go crying on national radio looking for sympathy.

shqipshume

irishvamp90 wrote: »

I didnt hear it but would i be right in saying he had his warnings,but being a stubborn old man he kinda went into bull mccabe mode

I think when the family were scraping it together to try pay it,doesnt look like that situation at all.

john_d_baptist

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

I'm not trying to act hard, I'm am cold hearted, especially when people fail to take some personal responsibility.

If you want to talk about personal responsibility, then look no further than the elected representatives of this country, and their departments... are your feelings towards them as cold hearted?

boodlesdoodles

Sleipnir wrote: »

Not on here!
Losing your father because he didn't pay some taxes is pretty bad.

To all those people who said "tough, if he had paid his taxes he might still be alive" can you picture your own father coming to you and saying he screwed up the tax he owed a few years ago and they've been chasing him for the last while. He's had to sell the car etc and they still won't leave him alone?

Now picture him in a coffin and say;
"You should have paid your taxes Dad"

My father did pay his taxes, as a Paye worker like myself, he had no other choice. While I have sympathy for this girl, like a previous poster said it would have taken numerous opportunities and chances for the Sheriff to be involved and perhaps this family were paying everyone else but the Revenue which seems to be the case. Companies have a statutory obligation to pay to the exchequer how else do we pay for the dole, hospitals etc? I also felt Ray came across as a little man with a personal vendetta, he never let the man speak or finish a sentence. Why let the truth and the law get in the way of a good histrionic fit????