Friday, October 18, 2024

‘The Human Side Of Tax Law’

Jay Rosen - Was head marketing guy, NBC:
 "While we were successful in marketing 'The Apprentice,' we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that. And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public."
We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'



I distilled my 4 years of marketing lessons into minimalistic visuals


The Australian Taxation Office is looking for a weapon in its war against tax cheats and criminals


Victorian woman jailed over $600,000 in GST refunds for “fake” cleaning business


Fed up': Crossbench push to establish a whistleblower protection authority


Data reveals small number of property investors control big chunk of Australian rentals


Mega Land Lord


WaPo: Meet The Black-Belt, Tattooed IRS Official Who Saved 23 Children From Their Abusers


Iraq’s Dollar Auction: The ‘Monster’ Funneling Billions to Fraudsters and Militants Through the U.S. Federal Reserve

A system set up to channel dollars from Iraqi oil sales to importers has been exploited by money launderers ...


Suspect in Kenya's Anglo Leasing Scandal Used Offshore Secrecy to Obscure Ties to Companies

Leaked documents from the Pandora Papers reveal  Sri Lankan-Irish businessman Anura Perera, named by …


Balancing the Books: Five Novels that Explore the Complexities of the Stock Market Literary 




Secretive Cyprus-Registered Funds Were Used to Hide Megayachts and Luxury Real Estate Linked to Sanctioned Russian Banker

In Cyprus, a new type of investment fund was marketed to clients as a way to avoid disclosing their ownership of...


Hayashi: Christianity And The Liberal(ish) Income Tax




Norway, One of World’s Most Cashless Economies, Just Made It A Lot Easier to Pay With Cash

Recent trends and developments in Northern Europe suggest the shift away from cash and toward purely digital payment systems may have reached its upper limits — at least for now.




NY Times Op-Ed: Pope Francis Is Turning Certainty On Its Head


Tax Institute welcomes IGTO's proposed review areas

 

IGTO Draft workplan for systemic reviews 2024/25


Tax Institute welcomes IGTO's proposed review areas 

REGULATION

Proposals to review areas such as tax identity fraud, client-agent linking and the registered agent phone line by the Inspector-General of Taxation have been welcomed by the institute.

By  Miranda Brownlee   

The Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO) released a consultation on its draft work plan for systemic reviews last month, which sets out the areas it has identified as suitable for broad, systemic reviews.

The Work Plan has been divided into two separate lists with the short list containing priority areas the IGTO intends to commence reviews on in the coming year.

The long list contains topics for consideration as options for being reviewed.

The IGTO listed the identification and management of tax financial abuse and tax identity fraud as two of the four priority areas it wants to investigate in the coming year.

The Work Plan noted that financial abuse can manifest in a number of ways and can result in one partner unwittingly becoming liable for tax debts related to entities over which they have no or limited control.

The IGTO said it wanted to undertake a review into whether the ATO has robust and effective policies and procedures for identifying and supporting victim survivors of financial abuse.

It would also consider whether the tax law currently provides sufficient powers for the commissioner to grant relief where tax financial abuse is demonstrated.

As part of its proposed review into tax identity fraud, the IGTO would examine whether the ATO’s policies and processes for dealing with taxpayers and their representatives affected by tax identity fraud are reasonable and proportionate to the risks.

It would also look at opportunities for the ATO to improve its capability to distinguish between taxpayers who are legitimate victims of tax identity fraud and those who are complicit in fraud.

The other two proposed priority areas include investigating the ATO's communications about unpaid superannuation and supporting taxpayers experiencing financial hardship.

In its long list of proposed issues for review, the IGTO is also considering reviewing the effectiveness of the ATO's registered agent phone line.

The IGTO said registered tax and BAS agents play a critical role in the effective administration of tax and superannuation and that efficient and effective engagement between the ATO and registered agents was therefore essential to the health of the system.

"The IGTO has received concerns about the timeliness and effectiveness of engagements through the registered agent phone line," it said.

The proposed review would investigate the timeliness of responses to calls made to the registered agent phone line and whether the resourcing and capability of the officers assigned to the registered agent phone line are adequate to meet demand.

It would also look at opportunities to improve the effectiveness of the registered agent phone line to support agents.

The IGTO is also considering reviewing the ATO's engagement with tax practitioners regarding the client-agent linking system.

"The IGTO would look to explore how the ATO has addressed issues raised by the tax profession during the design and implementation of the system," it said.

The ATO's approach to general interest charge remission is also listed as an option for review.

That review would examine whether the ATO’s application of existing policies and procedures for GIC remission requests aligns with PSLA 2011/12 and whether remission decisions are made consistently for taxpayers in like circumstances.

Other issues proposed for review include policies and processes for engaging with vulnerable taxpayers, the disclosure of business tax debts and the ATO's letters and written communications.

In a recent submission to the IGTO's consultation, the Tax Institute said it welcomed the proposed topics in both the short and long lists of review subjects and considered all identified areas significant.

The Tax Institute said examining the effectiveness of the registered agent phone line review would be crucial.

"It is equally important to enhance the communication channels available for legal professionals representing taxpayers in dealings with the ATO," it added.

The Tax Institute said it may also consider reviewing the effectiveness of the ATO’s interaction with other government agencies and what opportunities exist to maximise efficiencies in information sharing such as memorandums of understanding and whether MoUs restrict inter-agency.

The institute said there may also be opportunities to integrate some topics to streamline the time frames for reviews given the overlap.

"There appears to be some overlap among some of the topics; for example, the review of ‘policies and processes for engaging with vulnerable taxpayers’ (in the long list) is closely related to issues that would fall within scope of the ‘identification and management of tax financial abuse’ and ‘support for taxpayers experiencing financial hardships’ reviews (in the short list)," it said.

"Similarly, the matters to be considered in the review of ‘general interest charge remission’ may overlap in some respects with these categories."

Thursday, October 17, 2024

George Orwell as an outsider philosopher

There’s a deep truth in Thomas Mann’s line: “To be reminded that one is not alone in the world — always unpleasant”... more »


Every once in a while, a particular life renders vivid the roulette of what-ifs that determine whether a person of genius will leave a mark on the world with their gift or perish unrealized in a cage of circumstance.

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops,” Stephen Jay Gould sniped at our crude conception of genius as pure natural endowment rather than a constellation of biological, psychosocial, and cultural conditions.

From the Labor Camp to the Pantheon of Literature: How Dostoyevsky Became a Writer


“The kinds of work that make… civilization possible” — Rachel Barney (Toronto) and Troy Jollimore (Chico State) talk about “big craft”


“Only idiots care about IQ” — Justin Smith-Ruiu on IQ, race, institutional identitarianism, and eating pets


George Orwell as an outsider philosopher — Peter Brian Barry (Saginaw Valley) discusses the writer’s moral and political philosophy


“More philosophers should consider starting their own blogs” — philosopher and blogger Richard Y. Chappell (Miami) explains why


  1. “The project I’m working on right now, actually, is a philosophical paper about the legitimacy of teaching ethics to computer science students” — interview with Steve Coyne (Toronto) on philosophy of law, teaching ethics to computer scientists, and more
  2. “People in conditions of inequality ‘look more below than above them,’ such that ‘domination becomes dearer to them than independence’” — Rousseau on why the divisive techniques of skilled orators work, according to David Lay Williams (DePaul)
  3. “Suppose there is a 75% chance that I have done a specific wrong thing yesterday… What should be my attitude? Guilt isn’t quite right” — Alex Pruss (Baylor) on feelings that “could make sense for beings like us but which we simply don’t have”
  4. “In general, persons should not be safe and aligned” — and AI that meet the criteria for ethical personhood shouldn’t be either, argues Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside)
  5. “We do philosophy differently today. I suspect it has something to do with Nozick” — David Schmidtz (West Virginia) remembers his dinner with Robert Nozick, and reflects on his views and influence
  6. As many of you may know, “following the first hyperlink in the main text of an English Wikipedia article, and then repeating the process for subsequent articles, usually leads to the Philosophy article” — philosophy’s “function as a connector”
  7. News about and opportunities in medieval philosophy — the latest round-up from Bob Pasnau (Colorado)

  1. A movie that seems to be based on Parfit’s teletransportation problems — “Mickey 17”, from Bong Joon-ho (the director of the critically acclaimed “Parasite”) will be out in January
  2. “We don’t find any significant downsides that can’t be resolved with relatively simple tweaks to current review practices” — Nathan Ballantyne and Jared Celniker (ASU) defend blind review
  3. “The representational arts… would seem to have little in common with children’s games of make-believe… But a closer look reveals striking similarities”” — Kendall Walton (Michigan) is interviewed by Richard Marshall at 3:16AM
  4. A “skeptical attitude toward the mere appearance of expertise is a great fruit of philosophy” — which is one reason the best way to teach students AI skills will include teaching them philosophy, says Adam Zweber (UNC Wilmington)
  5. And if you enjoy stumping AIs, here’s a chance to win money and a co-authorship credit doing so — it’s “Humanity’s Last Exam”
  6. “How does one come to learn what one does not know one does not know?” — Daniel DeNicola (Gettysburg) on ignorance, education, and cognitive comfort
  7. John Rawls on MSNBC — Daniel Chandler (LSE) talks about his Rawlsian book, “Free and Equal”, with Chris Hayes

  1. “I didn’t have so-called talent in high school or college–I didn’t sing, couldn’t dance… But I had these tools that were given to me in my logic and philosophy classes” — Steve Martin, talking with Alan Alda (philosophy comes up around the 8:40 mark) (via Paul Kelleher)
  2. “A war crime does not cease to be a crime just because it is committed by the military forces of a democratic state, or in a defensive war” — Jessica Wolfendale (Case Western) on the “false equivalency” defense of immoral actions in war
  3. “How has German philosophy received and influenced philosophical ideas from across the globe over the last several centuries?” — a ten-part podcast series with Peter Adamson and ten other scholars
  4. “How can we have two graphs using the same data, but that appear to show entirely different things? Are these just different ‘perspectives’ on the data? Is one of them right?” — Corey Dethier (Minnesota) on how “a little bit of philosophy can go a long way in helping us understand graphs”
  5. If Taylor Swift is a philosopher, then so is anyone who reflects on their experiences a few times — Ponens or tollens? Catherine Robb (Tilburg) shares her view
  6. “Political neutrality is a democratic ideal. As such, it is not a promise of absolute military subordination to the executive” — Graham Parsons (West Point) on the military’s obligations to the president
  7. “What ‘breaks’ when someone breaks into song” (on a TV show, but also in real life)? — a musicologist with a background in philosophy who is personally “familiar with the hesitations over musicals” has a whole podcast series on this question
  1. “The experience of time passing is ultimately immeasurable and resists explanation in terms of anything else” — Evan Thompson (UBC) on what can be learned from the debate between Einstein and Bergson over time
  2. “Familial care work needs financial support… professional care workers need fair labor conditions” — Serene Khader (CUNY) on “a deep vision of racial, gender and economic equality that has often been lacking in mainstream feminism”
  3. “Milgram’s work and conclusions still stand” — Laura Niemi (Cornell), Edouard Machery (Pitt), & John Doris (Cornell) on the soundness of Milgram’s obedience experiments & their implications
  4. “Being able to act [with] ambivalence is actually really important to our agency,” including in sexual contexts — Quill Kukla (Georgetown) interviewed by Kate Greasley (Oxford) on sexual consent in a non-ideal world
  5. “A belief has come to dominate theoretical physics that even nothingness ought to come from something — that space-time must break up into more primitive building blocks that don’t themselves inhabit space or time” — a well done set of articles, visualizations, videos, etc., on “the unraveling of space-time”
  6. To AI: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems — worried about students using AI tools to cheat? Here’s an AI-powered bot that can administer them all “Socratic” oral exams
  7. “Build for Us” — the latest single from the new EP by Femi and the Foundation, that is, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (Georgetown)

Bra Beach and Tar Balls - Roam among the Romans

"The man who chases two rabbits, catches neither."


Bra beach closed as tar balls are everywhere

Council jetskis spotted a suspected oil slick out at sea on Wednesday morning, the Randwick council mayor, Dylan Parker, said. However, it was not yet confirmed.

Thousands of black golf ball-sized pieces of debris that washed up on the sand and forced the closure of two Sydney beaches have been confirmed as “tar balls”.

Coogee beach was closed on Tuesday and Gordons Bay beach was closed on Wednesday with beachgoers warned not to touch or go near the “mysterious black, ball-shaped debris”.

Randwick council said on Wednesday evening that “preliminary test results … show the material is a hydrocarbon-based pollutant which is consistent with the makeup of tar balls”.

Mystery debris that closed two Sydney beaches confirmed to be thousands of ‘tar balls’


When Did the Roman Empire Fall? Antigone


When in Rome, do as the Romans do(Medieval LatinSī fuerīs Rōmae, Rōmānō vīvitō mōre; sī fuerīs alibī, vīvitō sīcut ibī), often shortened to when in Rome..., is a proverbattributed to Saint Ambrose. The proverb means that it is best to follow the traditions or customs of a place being visited. A later version reads when in Rome, do as the Pope does.


Luck can mean being in the right place at the right time. It can also mean the existential fact of being here at all... more »

Forums Are Still Alive, Active, And A Treasure Trove Of Information. A huge list of still-active internet forums on topics like audio, drugs, plants, home repair, crafting, sports, cars, and all sorts of other things.


 In 1915, the Scottish historian John Buchan began The History of the Great Warhis magisterial 24-volume narrative of the First World War, while serving on the Western Front. He began the first volume by noting that history as we know it was an invention of the prior century. Poring over documents and diaries was a novelty: ‘Historians almost exclusively chronicled events of which they had been spectators.’

 In the last 365 days, at least two dozen books have been published in English and Hebrew about the massacres of 7 October, along with endless reams of commentary. Commentary cannot quite fulfill the task of history, in that proximity precludes objectivity. But a year later, in the aftermath of that slaughter, any observer of the Middle East can sense that the region is at the start of a reckoning that has been long in the making.

. Jay Mens


The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense’ Guardian 


Compare Countries and Cities Around the World

My Life Elsewhere is a collaborative community that allows you to compare the country you live in with other countries around the world. We’ll show you various statistics that differentiate your country from others, including cost of living, geographic size, and more. If you moved to another country, what would your life be like?

Taxing Dirty Luxuries

 A salary is a drug that your boss gives you to forget your dreams  …



Could it be that the story of money is the story of humanity itself, from 18,000 BC to the present? Not exactly... more »


New report shows child care workers struggle to pay bills on poverty-level wages NC Newsline


Unions Are Hot—Just Ask the Chippendales In These Times


Canadian police accuse India of working with criminal network to kill dissidents


The revelation that Anthony Albanese had purchased a $4.3 million slice of “clifftop perfection” on the NSW Central Coast set tongues wagging.

Not only because the listing made it sound like something out of Grand Designs, replete with “mesmerising ocean views” and “timber-lined cathedral ceilings” — perfect fodder for the national pastime of property stickybeaking.

How many properties do politicians own? A public register of their interests provides the answer


Opinion | The New York Times makes an endorsement for president

The editorial board blasted Donald Trump before reaching an unsurprising conclusion: ‘Kamala Harris is the only choice’





WSJ: A Tax-Shelter Crackdown Uncovers A Dentist’s ‘Smile High Trust’



Haneman: Taxing Dirty Luxuries


How Private Equity and an Ambitious Landlord Put Steward Health Care on Life Support

Nearly 300,000 internal documents leaked from Steward Health Care to OCCRP show how a private equity firm, real...