Nick Sherry, Assistant Treasurer in the Labor government, has announced that,
if re-elected, the government will reshape the governance of Australia’s
taxation system and establish an advisory board at the Australian Taxation Office
(ATO).
The Tax System Advisory Board (TSAB), as it will be known, will inform the
Tax Commissioner and ATO Executive Committee on the strategy, direction, organisation,
management, compliance planning, staff profile and information technology plans
at the ATO. It will also to provide a new, direct and in-built voice for the
business and taxpayer communities in relation to ATO decision-making and culture.
The Tax System Advisory Board, which will be similar to a strategic private-sector
style board, will be made up of non-government members and will begin with a
review of the ATO’s management practices to ensure the highest level of
corporate governance.
Sherry pointed out the recent Henry review found that the governance of Australia’s
tax system is fundamentally sound and there is general confidence in it. However,
the review also identified ways to further increase the responsiveness, accountability
and transparency of how the tax system is administered.
He said that TSABs already exist in the United Kingdom, the United States and
Canada, and establishing such a board was the key governance reform recommended
in the review. A detailed consultation with the tax community on the TSAB will occur within
2010.
At the same time, he confirmed that the Tax Commissioner would remain the independent
head of the ATO with responsibility to undertake the administration of aspects
of Australia’s tax system and deliver the ATO’s commitments to government
and manage the ATO as a government agency.
A re-elected Labor government will also recommit, he added, to a principles-based
approach to tax design to deliver a simple, transparent, responsive, accountable
and accessible tax system, including continuing work to deliver Australia a
single modern Income Tax Assessment Act.
Sherry said that the Board of Taxation has grown to become a well-respected
part of Australia’s tax system, particularly by the business community.
It provides both a business and broader community perspective that helps to
improve the design of taxation laws and their operation. The Board has also
shown itself to be capable of providing advice to improve the integrity and
functioning of the taxation system.
A re-elected Labor government would therefore boost and reshape the role of
the Board of Taxation by empowering it, in consultation with the government,
to initiate its own reviews to examine how current tax policies and laws are
operating.
The government’s reform agenda to date has included the establishing
of a permanent Tax Design Advisory Panel made up of private sector advisers
to assist with the design of new tax measures; and of a Tax Issues Entry System
for the public to directly raise issues relating to the care and maintenance
of the Australian tax and superannuation systems.
LAWANDTAX-NEWS.COM
