Australia's Tax System Needs Major Reform, Says Senior Businessman

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

26 November 2001

Chairman of the Australian Board of Taxation and senior businessman, Dick Warburton, has spoken out against the complexities of the Australian taxation system and has called for a major reform to take place.

In a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce, Mr Warburton said: 'Taxation in this country ... has become extremely complex .. when you look at the big picture you see the benefits you can get out of ... structural change. It's an enormous job but I think we can see a way through.'

Mr Warburton cited the taxation board's efforts to revise a section of the tax valuation method as an example of how unnecessarily complex the system is. 'It's been reduced from 129 pages to 24 pages, and from 40 taxing events to three,' he said. 'If we can get that same benefit through all the sections this will be a major change ... to the structure of how tax is put together.'

He suggested that the government enter into extensive consultations with the business sector in order to maximise ways of simplifying the legislation.

'Legislation is written within the bureaucracy with no consultation with the business community,' he charged. 'We need, going forward, much better consultation between the government and the business community ... to hopefully get much better legislation.'

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