From the Desk of the Executive Director

The Morrison government is setting up a much-wanted small business tax tribunal, but even before it starts we see efforts to white-ant its operation.

Just how much small business needs an independent tax tribunal was revealed in court by Michael Cranston, the former top Australian Taxation Office official. He was recently found innocent of using his high office to benefit his son, who is facing separate charges of alleged tax corruption.

Cranston’s testimony about the ATO’s internal culture was devastating. He stated under oath that tax audits are so often wrong that his job was to try to protect high-wealth individuals from flawed ATO audits. He described an ATO culture of “aggressiveness” against taxpayers. More...

Australia’s tax-collection system relies on the honesty of millions of Australians who pay their tax voluntar­ily and without fuss.

That happy co-operation is under threat because of the behavio­ur of the Australian Taxation Office.

Each year individuals and businesses remit about $390 billion in taxes. Meanwhile, the ATO chase­s just $20bn a year in tax it claims people owe. More...

2016 a year of revolution
The Foreign Affairs Editor for The Australian, Greg Sheridan, has described 2016 as a year of revolution.  From Brexit to Trump, the rise and (current) fall of ISIL, global terrorism, the game play of Putin, military muscle-exercising by China and the election of the drug-pusher killer President of the Philippines all indicate revolutionary shifts from the status quo. Sheridan says that 2016 will be seen by historians as a “fundamental year of change of direction on par with other great pivot points of global history”. More...

In the commercial construction sector the people who always get it in the neck are the small subcontractors — the subbies — the people who actually do the real work on the ground.

This newspaper, The West Australian, has run a long and deserved campaign demanding action. But where’s the State Government response?

Well, finally, we have seen some action. More...

Two current events occurring some 17,000km apart reveal regulatory tension over the “gig” economy. One event tears at the new economy while the other is working with this economic change.

Last weekend, Australia’s unfair contract laws covering small business people began. Late last month, a precedent-setting judgment in London declared two of Uber’s 40,000 British drivers to be employees and thus entitled to minimum wages.

The Australian event is accommodating the gig economy within a regulatory framework. The London event assaults the structural heart of the gig economy. More...

Brendan is a persistent fella. He’s a highly skilled IT consultant. Don’t ask me what he actually does. He tried to explain to me once but it was way beyond me.

What I do know with Brendan is that he has a high sense of justice. He gets really angry when a client ‘screws’ him over.  More...

The sleeping political lion that is the small business community is only occasionally truly woken. But the Road Safety Remuneration Act did just that, triggering high agitation that culminated in the act’s repeal on April 18.

The issue remains alive however given that Labor leader Bill Shorten has promised to reintroduce the act if Labor wins government at this year’s election.  More...

Wesfarmers’ chief executive Richard Goyder was a high profile player in the recent unsuccessful lobbying against changes to competition law which will see the introduction of an ‘effects test’. The Business Council of Australia, of which Goyder is a board member, likewise opposed the changes.

But big business opposition was not universal. The Australian Industry Group and the Shopping Centre Council of Australia for example did not oppose the changes. Although the AiGroup have expressed concerns on the detail, as have others. More...

How would you feel if — after years of filling out your tax return in strict accordance with the Australian Taxation Office’s written rules and having your tax returns accepted by the ATO — you discovered that the ATO was accusing you of fraud?

Further, that the basis of the fraud accusation was that you were complying with ATO written rules. Confused? Go figure!

But this is the scenario confronting small business people today in their dealings with the ATO. More...

The Unfair Contracts Act for small business people was proclaimed on November 12 this year and will go through a 12-month implementation period. The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission has immediately began reviewing commercial contracts for compliance.

The Act is a significant microeconomic reform, holding promise as a driver of innovation and jobs.

Economies are experiencing on going innovation upheaval. As a taste, banks are likely to halve their costs (and staff numbers) through technological innovation over the next decade. Automated cars  will start eliminating taxi driver jobs in the near future. Kenya has revolutionised financial transactions through phone-to-phone transfer, eliminating banks. More...