Should Mick Wallace resign over his VAT 'problem'?

Judgement Day

Given Mick Wallace's latest financial problem - i.e. non payment of VAT do you think he should resign? If so, would you vote for him again if he was to put his name forward in the consequent by-election? I know I would, he's the only worthwhile representative in the county. Opinions.

Aka Ishur

No

He says :

''I didn’t go mad. I had property worth over €70 [million]; I owed about €40 [million] and a banking crisis arrived and my property over about an 18 month period became worth €20 [million], probably less now...''

So I ask you, how much do you have to borrow before you qualify as mad??

Judgement Day

Don't care

There's plenty of other mad bastards in the Dail so that's no reason to resign.

PS I voted NO above but it's not showing!

vicwatson

No

Judgement Day wrote: »

Given Mick Wallace's latest financial problem - i.e. non payment of VAT do you think he should resign? If so, would you vote for him again if he was to put his name forward in the consequent by-election? I know I would, he's the only worthwhile representative in the county. Opinions.

No would not vote for him, anyone that evades tax is in my opinion a criminal, he's admitted he deliberately undeclared VAT.

I don't care whether it's to save jobs or his company or whatever.

We already have enough crooks in politics in this country.

He should lose his job. He is not fit for office after this (some might say he never was).

Judgement Day

Don't care

Easy to take the moral high ground but anyone who has every run a business will know that this sort of thing is what keeps the economy ticking over.

vicwatson

No

Here's an article on it for anyone -



http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tax-cheat-td-mick-wallace-insists-he-is-fit-to-serve-in-dail-eireann-3131500.html

vicwatson

No

Judgement Day wrote: »

Easy to take the moral high ground but anyone who has every run a business will know that this sort of thing is what keeps the economy ticking over.

Nothing to do with moral high ground.

I pay my damn high taxes honestly and openly every year and have never tried to evade tax, I expect that from every citizen of the country and public representatives.

You cannot defend the indefensible I'm afraid. He's a tax fraud.

The key point is that he DELIBERATELY under-declared monies owing to revenue - I.E. you and I by the way.

maddragon

No

Why would he resign. There is almost nothing bad enough that an Irish politician would resign. We had a TD with rent boys in the park. Umpteen tax evading, tax avoiding and downright corrupt TDs including Taoisigh. Drink driving TDs. Philandering TDs etc etc. It seems the only thing that can make an Irish TD resign is a threat to his/her pension and gratuity amounts. They disgust me TBH with very very few exceptions.

Callan57

No

vicwatson wrote: »

Nothing to do with moral high ground.

I pay my damn high taxes honestly and openly every year and have never tried to evade tax, I expect that from every citizen of the country and public representatives.

You cannot defend the indefensible I'm afraid. He's a tax fraud.

The key point is that he DELIBERATELY under-declared monies owing to revenue - I.E. you and I by the way.

It takes some brass neck to continue taking your State salary & no doubt plenty of "expenses" after deliberately defrauding that same state ... Michael Noonan should simply tell him "because you didn't pay your tax there is no money in the kitty to pay your Dail salary"

He deliberately stole from the State .... end of story! :rolleyes:

vicwatson

No

On Lahvline now !

plys

No

I heard on the radio that MJ Wallace Ltd is insolvent, and therefore will never be in a position to pay that 2.1m euro.. So how was an settlement reached in the first place?

I don't know the mechanics of VAT settlements, but do they not require agreement by the principal(s) of a company? If so, does this mean that Wallace knowingly lied.. AGAIN?! and probably while he was a sitting TD..

donalg1

No

vicwatson wrote: »

Here's an article on it for anyone -

Another quote from him in the Irish Times.

“Even though it was illegal, I thought it was the right thing to do.”

So now we can break the law on the premise that we think its the right thing to do!! And lets be honest here he never intended paying it and couldnt care less that he owes it as he himself wont be liable for it since his business is.

This lad then tries to talk about the countries finances when his own are a complete mess and he cant even manage himself and wants to advise others on what to do with their money, he really is having a laugh.

The only reason he announced it now was because he was caught and it was going to be published anyway, if it wasnt going to be published would he have announced it? I hardly think so!!

Couldnt beleive people were silly enough to vote for him in the first place, and cant believe people would even consider doing so again.

Squiggle

No

donalg1 wrote: »

Couldnt beleive people were silly enough to vote for him in the first place, and cant believe people would even consider doing so again.

I didn't vote for him because I didn't think much of his Mission Statement at the time - however he was always going to be elected because of the electorate's disillusionment with Politics and his involvement with Wexford Youths. He has already being convicted and fined 7k for not handing over the pension contributions of employees. Link. He is not fit to hold public office imo but I doubt he'll resign. All that said if the choice for me was to keep my business afloat and withhold VAT until business improved I would probably do it and as we speak I'd say there are many business using VAT as a cash flow tool, but it's a very risky strategy !

vicwatson

No

plys wrote: »

I heard on the radio that MJ Wallace Ltd is insolvent, and therefore will never be in a position to pay that 2.1m euro.. So how was an settlement reached in the first place?

I don't know the mechanics of VAT settlements, but do they not require agreement by the principal(s) of a company? If so, does this mean that Wallace knowingly lied.. AGAIN?! and probably while he was a sitting TD..

It is a limited company so he walks without having to pay a red cent even though he admitted the tax evasion - good aul Irish Company Law.

purplepanda

Don't care

So Mick Wallace will be the only politican who should be held responsible for his actions? :rolleyes: Even though he's not been a politican for long?

I see a very long list of politicans, bankers & civil servant & business people starting with thieving Charles Haughey who's family still profit from his illegal "gains", no one is taking back anything from them & the long line of fidddlers leading up to Bertie Ahern recently :mad: None even pay the tax they owe & none get taken to court & as for prison forget it!!!

At least Wallace invested in community facilties, & jobs & investments whilst his company was thriving, if he has substantial assets let them be seized to pay his tax debts.

As long as those crooks who are at the top of the list are chased first then Wallace can take his punishment later, at the moment the state & media are looking for a scapecoat, developer & later politican, Mick Wallace fits the bill so. :pac:

Plus FG/Lab/FF avoid the flack!!!! :mad:

blindside88

No

He kept the equivilant of 21 years TD's salary out tue public finances and now expects to be paid this salary, I don't care what he's done for Wexford, it's his kind that ruined this great little country

vicwatson

No

blindside88 wrote: »

He kept the equivilant of 21 years TD's salary out tue public finances and now expects to be paid this salary, I don't care what he's done for Wexford, it's his kind that ruined this great little country

He's done nothing bar the Football ground at Ferrycarrig.

expectationlost

No

so did anyone know he owed money to the revenue commission during the election campaign and seriousness of it

was it in the local papers?

allthedoyles

No

His 'vote no to austerity ' posters are still the only ones I see that are not taken down . -
He will probably get a hefty fine for that too.

I remember when he decided to run for the Dail and many people around here were delighted because at last they had someone they could vote for.

This was really protest votes , due to the quality of the other candidates .

Course he should resign , because he does not seem to have any valuable contributions to make to Dail Eireann , and can only describe everything as a 'disaster '

chieftan65

No

ah wake up people for god sake before its too late. course he should resign, he should never have been elected in the first place. he was just a protest vote against ff. he cant speak, and when he does he has no idea what he's saying. watched him on vincent browne lately and all i could do was cringe. folks mick wallace is not a victim, he was a successful businessman who was workning on a very healthy retirement fund and it back fired. this man defrauded the country and what do we do? we reward him with a plush government job and a nice salary. so where's the difference in fingelton and ahearn and harney and the rest of the criminals who ruined our country getting their pensions?? in the immortal words of mick wallace himself during the election campaign "politics is rotten to the core" so it is mick, and looks like you've found your place in this world at last.

Paddy De Plasterer

what a turn off Wallace seems to be,he is a liar, a cheat and should not be in Dail ,over the VAT scam.

bmaxi

No

Of course he should resign, I don't know why we're even having a debate about it. He deliberately and knowingly set out to defraud the state of legitimate tax revenue, money that could have been used to fund hospitals and schools. Anybody who would vote for him now would be condoning that behaviour.

oldyouth

Don't care

I'm no apologist for Mick but I've always said that he is one of the few who has stayed around and openly declared his problems. He has tried to sort out what he can. I'm sure there are many developers still paying fortunes to accountants and lawyers to avoid being brought to book, but Mick always seems to get it in the neck for saying it as it is. We (rightly) want rogues pay the price for this austerity and Mick's love of publicity means he bears the brunt of our frustrations.

chieftan65

No

oldyouth wrote: »

I'm no apologist for Mick but I've always said that he is one of the few who has stayed around and openly declared his problems. He has tried to sort out what he can. I'm sure there are many developers still paying fortunes to accountants and lawyers to avoid being brought to book, but Mick always seems to get it in the neck for saying it as it is. We (rightly) want rogues pay the price for this austerity and Mick's love of publicity means he bears the brunt of our frustrations.

Oh for god sake spare me the bleeding heart pity. He knowingly defrauded the state. end of. it was his decision, nobody forced him to. now he like the ordinary man in the street who does wrong has to pay the price.

jackhammer

No

vicwatson wrote: »

It is a limited company so he walks without having to pay a red cent even though he admitted the tax evasion - good aul Irish Company Law.

Not quite! He's a director of a the company, and he, as director, deliberately under-declared his VAT liability. That's a criminal offence.

I don't see the difference between him and that bloke, Begley whose company didn't pay tax on its garlic imports. He got 6 years for that, and that was a fraud of 1.4 million.

Let's see if Wallace faces the full rigours of the law, as did Begley. I won't hold my breath!

Willam Barker

No

Look Mick was elected on the grounds that he was different and a man of the people (I didn't buy it then or now). He claimed to be tax compliant and not in danger of being made a bankrupt but this we now know is untrue and to add insult to injury he now admits he deliberately lied and now owes us over €2m, this on top of his banking debts and the unpaid pension contributions all combines to give us a very interesting picture.

Mick was I think elected as people expected him to be someone who would stand for something, who would hold the establishment to account and who would hold himself to higher standards. He has let people down, I know my parents voted for him and feel betrayed. Mick should do the decent thing and resign and not bring further shame on Wexford, we don;t need to be compared to the Tipp electorate who voted in Lowery!

Judgement Day

Don't care

Who would you like to replace Mick with, yet another FG/FF/LAB TD not worth a tuppenny damn to the people of Wexford?

donalg1

No

Judgement Day wrote: »

Who would you like to replace Mick with, yet another FG/FF/LAB TD not worth a tuppenny damn to the people of Wexford?

Anyone would be better than that crook. He is an embarrassment and a hypocrite of the highest order.

Cantona's Collars

donalg1 wrote: »

Anyone would be better than that crook. He is an embarrassment and a hypocrite of the highest order.

Those descriptions are classed as qualifications in Dail Eireann.;)

Not apologising for the man but at least it didn't take a tribunal costing countless millions to find out what he did wrong.

vicwatson

No

donalg1 wrote: »

Anyone would be better than that crook. He is an embarrassment and a hypocrite of the highest order.

Not true, not anyone, Wexford Politicians have to be the worst in Ireland for representing their county :mad::mad: They are all cat politicians - from the county/town councillors to the chief whips, ministers and td's, a joke that don't give a toss about Wexford, has always been that way.

vicwatson

No

Judgement Day wrote: »

Who would you like to replace Mick with, yet another FG/FF/LAB TD not worth a tuppenny damn to the people of Wexford?

And don't forget Wexford had an independent - Liam Twomey - went on the independent ticket and got the vote from people that were sick of party politics and what did he go and do - stab his voters in teh back by joining Fine Gael !!

They really do sicken me !