Loss of local tax office will have a 'profound impact' - Dallat

SDLP Assembly Member John Dallat has strongly criticised the Treasury’s decision to close the local tax office in Coleraine and operate from a single facility in Belfast. Mr Dallat said: “This new announcement on top of job losses at the DVLA Centre in County Hall recently will be greeted by anger and cynicism. “There are many performance challenges for the due and efficient collection of all tax which will not be dealt by the contraction of the Revenue & Customs service and its concentration in fewer locations. “Yet again we have a move which shows contempt for good staff, for local customers and for the regional economy. Any highly questionable benefits from centralisation will be more than cancelled by the impact this policy will have on places like Coleraine, Limavady and surrounding towns and villages where employees come from. “Treasury Ministers need to listen not just to the valid concerns and grievances from people here but also to the questions raised by many reports about the performance capacity of the Revenue & Customs service being strategically diminished. “Ministers are presiding over an approach which is shrinking public employment, damaging public service and compromising public finances for the future. "The loss of local offices will have a profound impact on individual taxpayers who need help and advice especially in circumstances where they haven’t been able to cope with tax affairs. For these people, coping with mental health issues and other crisis in their lives will now have nowhere to turn to.”