Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse.
-Proverb
Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants.
- Benjamin Franklin
The Premier, Bob Carr, said the collapse of HIH had cost the Government $600 million and Williams's sentence had given him Great satisfaction in jail term
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Taxpayers to Profit from Legal Purge: Charles O. Rossotti Lives to Tell the American Tale
The IRS is like a police department that was giving out lots of parking tickets while organized crime was running rampant
-Charles Rossotti, Former Internal Revenue Service commissioner, the bearer of sunlight
When I stepped into the job as IRS commissioner in 1997, taxpayers were mad at the Internal Revenue Service. Really mad. People testified for days at televised congressional hearings on how the agency was ruining their lives by trapping them in Kafkaesque procedures. Complaints poured into Congress. A study commission recommended a complete overhaul of the IRS. Even President Clinton weighed in, using an entire Saturday radio speech to say that he was outraged at how the IRS was harassing citizens. The public uproar did create positive change... Many Unhappy Returns: One Man's Quest to Turn Around the Most Unpopular Organization in America
The 10,000-page Income Tax Act is set to be slashed by a third in a plan to reduce taxpayers' reliance on agents, accountants and lawyers to do their returns.
The legislation has tripled in size since the Howard Government was elected, while tax rulings, determinations, guidelines and court interpretations have multiplied. Three in every four taxpayers are now forced to rely on agents to complete their tax returns, and many consider Australia's tax system to the most complicated in the world.
Ultimately, the plan by the Taxation Board, the body which advises the Treasurer, Peter Costello, on tax matters, should result in faster processing of returns by the Tax Office, reduced reliance on tax professionals and lower fees for their advice. The board's chairman, Dick Warburton, said he would be pleased if half of the country's tax lawyers were rendered redundant as a result of his measures. "I'd like to believe that," he said.
State Treasurer Andrew Refshauge yesterday produced documents showing his federal counterpart Peter Costello had encouraged the NSW Government a year ago to increase land tax, stamp duty and payroll tax.
• The Third Opinion: Time to Show Tax as it is [In the war of words between federal and state politicians over taxation, there is much heat but very little light. Political dummy spits drown out the taxpayers' cries ; Big money and bigger principles are at stake in the tax battle between the states and the Federal Government A fair cut of the cake ; Where the GST goes ; Tax breaks from negative gearing have almost doubled in just four years, wiping almost $2 billion off tax revenues in 2002-03 as a shrinking number of taxpayers paid a record level of tax Taxation bites as fewer paying more ]
• · Corporate criminals Rodney Adler and Ray Williams are likely to spend their jail terms in one of the state's four remote prison camps Farm life looms for silvertails from Silverwater ; Mike Gallacher MP, the Liberal politician who wants to be the next NSW police minister, once worked in Kings Cross as an undercover cop staking out crooked detectives involved in the drugs trade. Mr Gallacher, 43, is an unlikely Liberal politician. His great uncle was the legendary Willie Gallacher, leader of a revolt by Scottish shipyard workers during World War I who met Russian leader Lenin in 1920 and became a Communist MP in the House of Commons in the 1930s. My life as a 'dog': MP recalls his Serpico role
• · · The State is the coldest of all cold monsters. - Frederich Nietzche; Shot in cold blood - Strike Force Lauma: the task ahead. Often royal commissions are cheaper in a long run then task forces, but there must be a political will to call one ... Residents too scared to leave $2m homes at night ; After Melbourne Sydney starts the underworld battle of the nightclubs Fighting talk has a hollow ring: Sydney braces for gangs who rule ; Ghost of Gary Lee-Rogers The usual suspects: The secret note that could save Schapelle
• · · · Put yourself in Mike Bolesta's place. On the morning of Feb. 20, he buys a new radio-CD player for his 17-year-old son Christopher's car. He pays the $114 installation charge with 57 crisp new $2 bills, which, when last observed, were still considered legitimate currency in the United States proper. The $2 bills are Bolesta's idea of payment, and his little comic protest, too. A tale of customer service, justice and currency as funny as a $2 bill ; Ben Hills reports on an article by Paul Sheehan: Unique water seemed too good to be true to begin with - and the story just keeps getting stranger. Mystery of the magic water
• · · · · For a defendant in a criminal trial, Ray Williams made some good moves. But one of the most senior judges in the Supreme Court was in no mood for leniency Court was in no mood for philanthropy ; Ever so politely, Williams follows Adler down ; Mad, bad and running the company
• · · · · · Michael Gordon meets the last 54 asylum seekers held in Nauru and finds despair, depression and a sense of injustice ... and the triumph of the human spirit 'This is not detention, this is hell' ; Wealthy Poles are invading the border regions of Germany and snapping up properties at rock bottom prices in what estate agents call a dramatic reversal of historical roles Poland invades Germany: cheap homes the lure in game of catch-up ; Fred Nile’s Portrait entered in Archibald Prize