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Since the Four Corners show ‘Mongrel Bunch of Bastards’, which exposed the abuse by the ATO of small business people, the ATO has been in denial mode. The ATO’s press release is essentially a ‘nothing to see here folks’ statement.

The Australian Services Union, representing ATO staff, has demanded that we at Self-Employed Australia apologise for ‘scurrilous’ accusations. It is outraged by our statements in our submission opposing the ATO credit agency report Bill. It’s pleasing to report that this Bill has now been put ‘on hold’ by the Minister, Kelly O’Dwyer.  More...

ATO today released a Media Statement in response to the Four Corners show ('Mongrel Bunch of Bastards') last night.

To our mind the ATO is in denial. But we will leave you to judge. Its release is below. Also, the ATO union—the ASU—has defended the ATO.

Again you judge! More...

If you watched ABC Four Corners last night, the evidence of the ATO's abusing its powers against small business people was compelling.

However, it’s one thing to understand the abuse! It’s another thing to find solutions. That’s why we’ve put together, with considerable legal input, a reform agenda for the ATO.

Today we launch, The Power to Audit is the Power to Destroy. More...

The evidence mounts on the ATO’s abuse of its powers with small business people. This will culminate in the Four Corners full story this Monday, ABC 8:30.

We highly recommend you watch this. The Four Corners TV promo is here. 

There has already been considerable coverage: More...

We thought we’d been strong in our criticism of the Australian Taxation Office! But the ABC Four Corners show airing this Monday 9 April at 8.30pm takes the criticism to a whole new level!

We’ve said of the ATO that it: More...

Some might say 'Panic.' We say 'Be aware!' 'Be prepared!'

Our coverage and criticism of the ATO's treatment of small business people is extensive. See here.  We understand why some people might think we are exaggerating. Surely the stories are 'one-offs?'  More...

Earlier this month we labelled a proposed Victorian law a 'shocker'. We said that we were preparing a detailed analysis which we have now done. A short summary is here.

The Victorian Labour Hire Licensing Bill is a 'shocker' because it strips away basic access to justice to which everyone in the community should be entitled. More...

If you didn't read it, do so. It's the ABC's report of a memo sent by the ATO to its staff. The memo tells ATO staff to report on other staff who spend too much time eating, reading the paper at work or 'fudging' their work hours. We had to ask ourselves on reading the report, 'in what century is the ATO operating? The 1800s?'

Karl Marx would rightly call ATO staff 'wage slaves.'  Charles Dickens would describe their existence as downtrodden. Frankly, what a horrid place in which to work! The ATO must be a 'paper pushing, time pressure factory'. Forget results! Dump quality! Just do your hours! But for us it suddenly explains a lot.  More...

The Turnbull government is proposing new legislation that would give the ATO the power to report (alleged) small business debts to credit rating agencies.

We absolutely oppose this, as reported in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald this week.

We want this Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax 3 Transparency) Bill 2018: Transparency of taxation debts withdrawn. It has nothing to do with transparency. It is a new grab for power by the ATO.  More...

The Australian Taxation Office pretty consistently claims that small business people owe around 60 per cent of tax debts, amounting to some $12 billion or more a year. This figure is frequently trotted out to portray small business people as tax dodgers and the ATO as the 'defender' of the community. Well, maybe!

There's no doubt that lots of small business people owe lots of tax. But let's get fact-driven. In the UK, campaigners claiming that massive tax dodging was occurring have been embarrassed when analysis revealed that the actual debt was less than a third of that claimed.  More...