No, I’m actually not kidding! The title is not as ironic as one might think - the truth is I was very well impressed by the Irish Revenue Commissioners Office.
The quality of service they provide makes paying tax (and especially claiming relief on it 
) seem a bliss compared to other systems in other countries I’ve been to. From the very polite, patient and efficient personnel at the Department of Social Welfare, down to the automated voice recognition on their help line, I found it a very painless experience. To me, as an expat living here, the whole system seems very well organized, and the user experience while dealing with the tax office was such that the taxpayer is being treated truly like a customer. You get the feeling of getting “your money’s worth”, instead of feeling ripped-off.
If this sounds a bit like over-praising to you, or you had a different experience, do let me know your opinion. It should be added here that Ireland has a two tier tax system: 20% up to ~34K/year income, and 41% on everything above that (as of 2007 - this can vary slightly every year). A tax calculator (useful if you’re planning to get a job here) can be found here.
The tax level is thus pretty dear, so that the least the government can do is provide seamless service to the taxpayer. I don’t think anybody is enthusiastic about paying tax - however, the Irish seem to have managed to make the process more bearable!
