• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Join Self-Employed Australia
  • Protected Members
    • Tax Audit Support
    • Unfair Contract Help
  • About US
    • Who We Are
    • SEA Board
    • Annual Reports
    • No Spam Policy
    • Content Disclaimer
  • Contact Us
  • Log in/Log out
  • Update your details

Self Employed Australia

"Everyone needs an Advocate"

“Everyone needs an Advocate”

  • Current Advocacy
    • Reforming the ATO
    • Small Business Tax Tribunal
    • Fair Contracts
    • Fixing Disputes/Prompt Payment
    • The ‘Gig’ Economy
  • Past Advocacy
    • Submissions
    • Defending ABN Contractors
    • Work Safety
    • Independent Contractors Act
    • Owner-Drivers
    • International Labour Organisation
    • Independent Contractors: How Many?
  • SEA Submissions
    • Submissions
    • Independent Contractors: How Many?
  • Members-only Articles
    • About ICA
    • Contract Design and Templates
    • Independent Contractors Act
    • Practical Assistance
    • Taxation Matters
    • What is an Independent Contractor?
  • News Categories
  • NotAboveTheLaw

ABC confronts ATO – Time for a Taxpayer Bill of Rights!

October 19, 2021 by Self-Employed Australia

bill-of-rightsYesterday the ABC launched major coverage of a campaign to achieve a Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The coverage included TV, radio and online all day.

Here’s the major online article.  And here’s part of the TV coverage (3’ 42”).

It seems to have generated some serious movement.

The article quotes Federal Liberal MP, Jason Falinski saying, “Australians need to be protected against what has become a very powerful tax office”.  Jason’s comments are especially important because he chairs the key parliamentary committee that oversees the ATO.

Jason also says that the ATO should have to prove a tax debt against someone. Currently the ATO doesn’t have to prove a debt. The burden of proof is on the taxpayer. Jason says “I think that there are a lot of people in government that want to have a very close look at this”. Wow! That’s big. The government is seriously looking at the ATO’s behaviour and powers.

This is supported by the Inspector-General of Taxation, Karen Payne. We talked about her last week exposing really bad ATO behaviour.  In the ABC article Karen suggests that the ATO could face sanctions for breaching taxpayer rights. The article says that Karen’s “…point is that having sanctions would force a cultural shift within the ATO”. We say ‘Yes’ to that!

The need to fix the ATO’s power imbalance is based on strong evidence.

The article features one of the ATO victims who appeared in the 2018 ‘Mongrel Bunch of Bastards’ 4Corners TV exposé. Helen Petaia once had a thriving IT company. But the ATO moved against her on a ‘fabricated tax debt’. The ATO eventually admitted that it was wrong and after six years of fighting Helen was paid compensation by the ATO. But by then her business had collapsed and she was forced to sell the family home. Helen says a Taxpayer Bill of Rights would have saved her from the ATO fight.

The model is based on the US Taxpayer Bill of Rights. It’s legislation. It’s not just simply the tax collector’s policy or ‘code’ that it can ignore at whim.

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights has 10 practical requirements. The right of taxpayers:

  1. To be informed
  2. To quality service
  3. To pay the correct amount of tax
  4. To challenge the tax collector’s position and be heard
  5. To appeal a tax decision in an independent forum
  6. To finality
  7. To privacy
  8. To confidentiality
  9. To retain representation
  10. To a fair and just tax system

This seems damn sensible to us. Here’s a copy of the US Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

And, yes, this is something we’ve been campaigning on since 2019. See here. We’d be very supportive of such a reform. Ummm! More campaigning then!

Filed Under: News Updates, Tax Reform, Taxation

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Paying small business on time. Albo: Please keep the good bits of the ABCC! August 9, 2022
  • Great news! Albanese ‘beefing up’ unfair contract laws August 4, 2022
  • The truth needs to be told about the ATO.  Drop the charges against Richard Boyle July 29, 2022
  • ‘They’ plan to screw over 2.1 million Australians July 22, 2022
  • Stop prosecution/ persecution of ATO whistle-blower Richard Boyle July 15, 2022
  • Campaign to defend self-employed people: It’s going to be a battle July 7, 2022
  • Report on Supreme Court hearing, SEA v WorkSafe Victoria, 21 June 2022 June 26, 2022
  • To court we go! Finally, a first step. Prosecuting the Victorian Government June 20, 2022
  • 2021: A Victorian Health Department Space Odyssey – Where is Hal? June 15, 2022
  • Prosecution of Victorian Health over 2020 Hotel Quarantine Disaster—Update June 10, 2022

Categories

Footer

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in