Taxing Dramas: Percent Who Feel Employer Cares About Their Wellbeing Plummets Gallup - Back to school: Five myths about tax evasion

PERKS!  Fraud: Billions In Covid Relief Used For Perks Instead.

‘Malicious’ emails trigger panic, stress says demoted government staffer

A woman in a senior role at the Australian Taxation Office has sued her former boss for $700,000 claiming she was demoted and suffers panic attacks after he sent two “malicious” emails about her performance to her managers. Vanda Carson court reporter

I was caught in a web of hurt  Emails trigger panic & stress, says demoted government staffer  

A SENIOR public servant has sued her former boss for $700,000, claiming she was demoted and suffers panic attacks after he sent two malicious emails about her performance to her managers.

Joanne Casburn, 53, from Padding- ton in Brisbane’s inner western suburbs, who assessed tax on billion-dollar deals and worked with taxpayers worth $50m or more, has sued her former direct supervisor at the Australian Taxation Office, Gre- gory Dick, over the alleged defamatory slurs in the District Court in Brisbane.

She alleges he sent an email on January 7, 2019, containing 29 defamatory imputations and an email a month later on February 7, containing 64 defamatory imputations about her. 

They included one comment labelled “the Drinks affair” where she was accused of risking the ATO’s reputation and risked jeopardising a prosecution, by inviting staff to have drinks with former Deputy Commissioner Michael Cranston in mid-2018, when he was facing criminal charges  of abusing his position as a public servant. Mr Cranston was later cleared by a jury. 

She also alleges she was defamed by Mr Dick, saying she insisted on flying Qantas business class for work trips so she could use airport lounges, and “made no attempt” to fly Virgin or economy, despite being asked to. Ms Casburn alleges in her claim that the emails from Mr Dick, an Australian Taxation Office Assistant Commissioner, who overseas tax payment by the country’s richest, led to  her demotion from an SES Band 1 to an executive level 2 on August 6, 2020. This has led her to suffer a $350,000 pay cut until she reaches 65 years old, she alleges in her statement of claim. 

She is seeking $350,000 in special damages for economic loss, $250,000 in ordinary damages for defamation and $100,000 in aggravated damages for defamation.On March 15, Judge Amanda McDonnell ordered that Ms Casburn remove phrases from her claim alleging the defamatory imputations caused her to suffer increased anxiousness and despair. She also orderedMr Dick to file his defence by April 7.

Joanne Casburn v Gregory Dick [2021] QDC 336

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Employees' perceptions of their organization caring about their wellbeing drops
• During the onset of the pandemic, employees felt employers had more care and concern
• Employees who feel their employer cares about their wellbeing are 69% less likely to actively search for a job

Fewer than one in four U.S. employees feel strongly that their organization cares about their wellbeing -- the lowest percentage in nearly a decade.

Percent Who Feel Employer Cares About Their Wellbeing Plummets Gallup

The ATO has been on a mission to stamp out the “reckless” and “baseless” use of legal privilege in tax matters as part of a campaign to eliminate multinational tax evasion.

Accounting giant PwC has inappropriately used legal privilege to shield documents from the tax office during an audit of its multinational clients, a judge has found, in a mixed ruling that could have wider implications for Australia’s professional services industry.

Federal Court Justice Mark Moshinsky ruled on Friday that a legitimate relationship between lawyer and client existed but that PwC had inappropriately applied privilege to more than half the documents requested by the Australian Tax Office.

The pre-judgment ruling could raise the bar for the use of legal privilege among Australia’s consulting and legal sectors, which have increasingly blended the use of lawyers and consultants to provide tax advice to multinational companies.

Judge finds PwC privilege over-used in tax audit

IRS Commissioner Delivers Virtual Lecture Today At Miami

Russian troops are not just laying down their arms but are moving over to fight on Ukraine’s side

At What Point Does a Billionaire’s Greed Hurt the Rest of Us?

How the growth of a billionaire class is the result of policy choices

The release of the Pandora Papers provided a rare glimpse into the financial affairs of the world’s rich and powerful. These documents and the stories they tell confirm some of our worst suspicions about the susceptibility of financial systems to corruption and tax avoidance. For the right price, assets and profits are easy to hide. With the Pandora coverage, the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen IRS enforcement and ongoing investigations into the Trump Organization’s taxes, tax evasion has been in the news a lot lately. But many misperceptions — about the problem and possible solutions — persist.

Five myths about tax evasion

• CNBC spoke with Erin Collins, the national taxpayer advocate, who leads an independent organization within the IRS, fighting for systemic changes.
• As “voice of the taxpayer,” she oversees about 80 nationwide offices providing one-on-one assistance, consults within the agency and presents legislative proposals to Congress.  
• “It was the only job I would have considered for coming out of retirement,” said Collins, who has more than 35 years of tax law experience tackling IRS controversies.

Meet Erin Collins, National Taxpayer Advocate for the IRS

       Ukraine and literature 

       As Vladimir Putin's outrageous and ill-conceived war against Ukraine and the terrible toll it is taking continue there has been quite a lot of coverage of Ukrainian writers and writing: recent pieces now include Philipp Jedicke at Deutsche Welle considering Can literature rise up against Russia's war in Ukraine ? and in Tablet Vladislav Davidzon and and Kate Tsurkan offer a survey of The Landscape of Ukrainian Literature.