Ho Ho…Who police the police that police the police?

There’s money in them there hills!

It's all unnecessary BS that allows the wealthy to sponge off of joe average via a two-tier tax system. And tax accounting the most unproductive work ever invented.

Australia has by and large the most complex tax laws with more holes in it than Swiss cheese. The whole rotten mess needs jettisoning and replace with a single unavoidable tax all pay above a generous tax-free threshold.

Nobody currently pays more than 13% after accounting adjustments which cost the bottom line on average 7%.

A flat tax rate of 15% would garner the ATO an additional 2% and allow tax compliance fees to be returned to the bottom line, swelling by around 5%, meaning the enterprise would, in adjusted terms, be 3% better off. Or pay in real terms, 10%.

After real tax reform we need fair dinkcum energy policy reform. TBC.
Alan B.

I often disagree with Binoy nowadays, but this article is spot on. PWC’s behaviour, and its response when it was uncovered, was an absolute disgrace.

It will be a great miscarriage of justice if no-one suffers a penalty for these actions. But I hope and expect it will be a very long time before PWC gets another Australian government contract, Commonwealth or state; and I imagine the private sector and overseas governments will also think twice before hiring them.

Then there is the broader question of "private consultants" to government, their roll, and the benefits to themselves, and of course to the taxpayer as well. Conservative politicians favour, and much prefer these private consultants over the public variety, claiming them to be cheaper and more efficient than any public servant can ever be. A cynic might say they also provide a well paid avenue for retired politicians to make ends meet financially in their "old age".

What Rhain and Paul 1405 say.
Alan B.

Hi Paul

It’s not just conservative politicians who favour consultants – Labor does as well. Here in WA the Labor government last year spent a record amount on consultancies.

https://www.watoday.com.au/politics/western-australia/mcgowan-government-spends-record-amount-on-consultants-20221202-p5c39j.html

The reasons are many and sometimes good – it may be that there is some specialist expertise needed that doesn’t exist within government; or, if government itself is under scrutiny, external eyes can provide independent analysis.

But there are also bad reasons – the hollowing out of critical expertise in the public service, lack of trust of the bureaucracy by ministers, and the tendency of consultants to tell politicians what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. And you’re right about providing retirement plans, though in my experience former Labor politicians are even more keen than Lib/Nats to jump on that particular gravy train.

Hi Rhian,

"It’s not just conservative politicians", I consider many within the Labor Party to be conservative. The general Labor leadership and most supporters are not radical politically, what differentiates Labor from Liberal is more emphasis than direction. The political DNA of both parties is about 90% identical. The broad policy of the Labor Party from its inception has been to work within the established framework of government to effect progressive change over time, I am comfortable with that. The transitional change from one to the other after an electoral change runs smoothly because both support the status quo, when it comes to the functioning of government. On this topic of private consultants, the Labor Party is just as likely to embrace them in government as their opponents are, but maybe to a slightly lesser degree.

We were once the third wealthiest nation on the planet and a debt free creditor one to boot. And a post war time when consultancies were virtually unknown.

Times change but not economic fundamentals. This was a time when shares were bought for their dividend stream rather than capital gains. And bipartisan pragmatism was the order of the day.

Now it's beggar my country and winning office at virtually any cost. And opposition for opposition's sake!

We need tax reform the way a drowning man needs a lifeboat. But real tax reform would, I believe, end the gravy train for many conflicted politicians.

So, they tinker at the edges and take ideas off of table untried. Ditto energy policy, Labor won't do nuclear regardless of the fact that it's our best, cleanest, safest and cheapest carbon free, base load option!
Alan B.