Australia To Have Tax Inspector-General By Mid Year

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

21 February 2002

Australian Assistant Treasurer and Revenue Minister Helen Coonan announced earlier this week that the Government hopes to have an Inspector-General for Taxation in place by the middle of this year.

However, Ms Coonan was unable to elaborate on the expected responsibilities of the new position - which was first announced by Prime Minister John Howard during the election campaign - other than to reveal that the office would identify gaps in ATO processes and improve the administration and accountability of the Tax Office.

She admitted that discussions regarding the position are still ongoing, and that following inter-governmental consultation, the outlines of the role will be put to the public for discussion:

'Out of that process, no doubt there'll be some fine tuning and legislation will hopefully be introduced a little after the middle of the year,' she explained to the Senate Economics Committee, adding that: 'Clearly, the relationship that this office has to the board of taxation, the Ombudsman's office, the Auditor-General and any other points of review have to be defined.'

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