Australia To Trim Tax Law By 30% - Words, That Is, Not Taxes

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

25 November 2005

Australian Treasurer Peter Costello announced on Thursday that the Government is planning a major clean-up exercise of tax legislation which could see the country's tax law reduced by close to 30 per cent.

The advisory Board of Taxation has been reviewing the tax legislation with a view to initiating ways to promote ease of use of the income tax law, and the Board has provided a report to the Government on provisions of the tax law that are inoperative and can be repealed.

According to this report, it is believed that up to 28 per cent, or 2,100 pages, of the Attorney-General's Department's Scaleplus version of the combined Income Tax Assessment Acts can be repealed.

Mr Costello explained that inoperative provisions are those that have ceased to apply to taxpayers, either because they have no effect after a date in the past or because all the transactions that they did affect have now concluded.

"Repealing the inoperative provisions is a significant step to reduce complexity in our tax laws," observed Mr Costello.

"Tax practitioners will find it much easier to navigate the printed and electronic versions of the income tax law, and the size of the reprinted tax legislation will be reduced," he added.

In addition to the consultation already undertaken by the Board, the Government will undertake further consultation on the draft legislation to repeal the inoperative provisions. This will give the public an opportunity to identify any provisions that might still have an ongoing operation, minimising any risk of repealing a provision that should remain in the law.

A draft Bill is expected to be ready for release early next year.

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