Henry told us in his guide to the Institutional Framework ofTaxation in Australia that the Australian Taxation System is one ofthe most complex in the world and is made up of approximately 125taxes including taxes such as Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, FringeBenefits Tax and Goods and Services Tax just to name a few. He alsomentioned that there are many different organisations that playdifferent and varied roles within this system to ensure itsintegrity and all Australians are equally treated with equity. TheAustralian Taxation System is embedded in the way of life for allAustralian taxpayers, we pay tax on our income, we pay tax when wepurchase goods and use services, we pay tax when we sell assets andthis is just to name a few but in return the Government providesservices and benefits e.g. hospitals, schools, defence, andfinancial assistance to those in need etc. As we know thegovernment relies very heavily on the revenue from taxation to beable to finance its activities and services it offers to the publicand reforms and reviews on taxation are often a focus ofgovernments. There has been a lot of media attention lately on theextraordinary powers that the Commissioner of Taxation and theAustralian Taxation Office (ATO) has and to whether they are insome way abusing that power in their dealings with small businesstaxpayers and individuals. There has been a call for an inquiryinto the ATO resulting from a number of complaints by taxpayers.The ABC 4Corners programme also released a documentary on thistopic in April 2018 and it would be advisable for you to view thisas part of your research into the topic

This assessment requires you to review this topical area oftaxation (Australian Taxation Office, their powers and are theyabusing them) which has been playing out in the media for a numberof months now as per Part 1 and Part 2 below.

Part One

Review Australian newspapers such as the West Australian,Financial Review, The Australian, Sunday Times and various othersfor articles on the area mentioned above. You need to find 10newspaper articles (these may also be online articles) whichwill be handed in with your assignment. The articles should be from2017 or 2018 only. If you do not have access to AustralianNewspapers then you may use the Factiva Database within the CurtinLibrary. A factsheet on how to use this database and a short videopresentation is included in the assessment link for this assignmenton the Blackboard. These newspaper articles must be scanned orsaved as PDF files and uploaded to the Blackboard in theappropriate area within the assessment tab. Please Note we will notaccept links to the articles.

Part Two

After reading newspapers and journal articles and using widerresearch platforms such as the Taxation Administration Act1953, Australian Taxation Office webpage, journal articles etcon the subject of Powers of the ATO and the perceived abuse ofthose powers you should be able to form an opinion to whether theATO in your view are abusing their powers in relation to smallbusinesses and individual taxpayers.

For this area of the assessment you need to explain

a)    What are the ATO powers and where do theycome from?

b)    How is the Government dealing with theissues that have arisen from the recent media backlash on theperceived abuse of powers by the ATO?

c)    What is the ATO doing going forward toensure that they have the Australian public’s confidence again?

d)   What is your opinion on the issue, do you thinkthe ATO are just doing their job and should use whatever power theyhave at their disposal to collect revenue which is their main jobfor the Government. Or are you of the opinion that they have toomuch power and it should be diluted. Do you consider their actionsto be abusive? This area is based about your opinion so you need toensure that you give us your own personal views of the topic andnot a summary of the articles you have collected in part one of theassessment task.

The requirements of the assignment for part two is to produce a1500 word essay on your opinion of this topic which should be basedon your findings from the Australian newspapers you have collectedand any other research you may want to undertake, please do notjust provide a detailed summary of the articles you have includedin Part 1

The word limit does not take into account the cover page orreferences and we will allow an excess of 10%.

You must reference the essay using AGLC3 and a bibliography atthe end indicating materials read/used is also required.