“The demise of newspapers, I think, is scary for any democracy. Because I think newspapers have been totally under appreciated for what they have done to keep the government in check. To prevent corruption, to keep people honest. That’s what scares me the most, is I’m not sure who provides that check. And you have to have it. History has shown you have to have that balance if you want to maintain a democracy. And we’re about to lose it.”
In the secret agent business, no one is necessarily who or what they say they ar
ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn told a Senate inquiry he was aware of community concerns that the ATO might be “nit-picking” when it comes to the decline in turnover test.
‘Sympathetic and understanding’: ATO confirms compliance approach
This week, Ariel Jurow Kleiman (San Diego) reviews a new work by Ian Roxan (LSE), Is VAT Also a Corporate Tax? Untangling Tax Burdens and Benefits for Companies, LSE Legal Studies Working Paper 2/2020.
Ian Roxan bravely enters the tax-incidence fray with his recent article on the value added tax (VAT). I must admit up front that the article delved into details of European law that are beyond my ken. I forged onward nonetheless, armed with moxie and the assumption that the general principles underlying American and European tax law are roughly the same. I maintain this assumption of shared legal principles despite the vast cultural gulf between Americans and Europeans. See, e.g., the metric system,mayonnaise on French fries, and castles.
Queensland Deputy Premier to stand aside from ministerial duties over corruption probe
Queensland's Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad announces she is standing aside from her ministerial role as the state's corruption watchdog launches an investigation into the selection process of a school principal.
Berejiklian's roadmap to freedom in NSW
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has a roadmap to freedom but stressed that the onus is on everyone to keep their distance if they want restrictions gone for good.
Police strip-searching children hadn't been properly trained and didn't understand the law on what they were doing, a series of landmark watchdog reports has found.
Cops broke law on strip searches: watchdog
Police strip-searching children hadn't been properly trained and didn't understand the law on what they were doing, a series of landmark watchdog reports has found.
Cops broke law on strip searches: watchdog
NSW Police chief Mick Fuller gets a big payday
Commissioner Fuller is now paid a salary of $649,500, after receiving a pay rise of at least $86,850
John H. Cochrane (Hoover Institution), Wealth and Taxes:
Wealth inequality has become a heated political issue. Politicians claim that wealth concentration is rising and that people at the top are gaining at other people’s expense. In this study, I examine problems with the measurement of wealth and discuss whether wealth inequality is an issue that public policy needs to address. I also consider the likely effects of wealth taxation. I concur with views from the left that political rent‐seeking should be curtailed and that finding economic opportunities for less‐fortunate Americans is important. But I argue that a new system of wealth taxes is more likely to hurt rather than help those goals.
Bryan Camp (Texas Tech), Taxation of Electronic Gaming, 77 Wash & Lee L. Rev. 661 (2020):
At a doctrinal level, the subject of this Article is timely. During this time of the coronavirus pandemic, casinos have been closed and large populations have been subject to stay-home orders from local and state authorities. One can reasonably expect a large increase in electronic gaming and thus an increased need for proper consideration of its taxation. This Article considers the proper way to tax electronic gaming of all kinds. It argues that a cash-out rule is the proper rule.
Artificial Intelligence And The Future Of Tax Law And Policy
On 24 April 2020 the US Court of Appeals for the fifth circuit ruledthat a US law firm must disclose to the US tax authority (the Internal Revenue Service) the names of requested clients in connection to an investigation. Specifically, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had asked for documents identifying any US clients at whose request or on whose behalf the law firm had acquired or formed any foreign entity, opened or maintained any foreign financial account, or assisted in the conduct of any foreign financial transaction, including records or other data relating to setting up offshore financial accounts and the acquisition, establishment or maintenance of offshore entities or structures of entities.
US appeals court confirms firm must disclose to IRS names of clients behind offshore bank accounts and foreign entities