Scott Treatt said Tuesday night’s (25 October) budget offered an insight into what the government may do to fix the fiscal policy but it is unlikely there will be any significant change until at least May 2023.
“A small handful of announced but un-enacted tax measures were addressed in the Budget, providing clarity to the tax profession and their clients,” he said.
“However, this leaves many key tax measures needing further and deeper attention, which is only possible with adequate funding for the organisations charged with designing and upholding tax law.”
Mr Treatt said most of the funding to the ATO announced on Tuesday (25 October) was temporary and for any meaningful change to be made to the system, permanent and reliable funding is needed.
“The funding of government agencies remains in the spotlight with certain programs including the Tax Avoidance Taskforce being extended in the Budget,” he said.
“We remain concerned about temporary funding linked to collections for Government agencies like ATO and Treasury. These important bodies need their base funding levels replenished and reinforced to provide a minimum level of service and support, particularly in the areas of law design, guidance, disputes and customer service.
“These are the people who design our tax and transfer system — who decide matters of policy for superannuation, small businesses, income tax and more. They need the resources to properly review and improve tax policy so our system can be fair, equitable and sustainable.
“Positive change can’t happen when their hands are tied by poor funding.”
Mr Treatt said the tax system needs to be de-politicised and focus instead on the best outcomes for taxpayers, communities and the wider Australian economy.
“For the tax and transfer system to not only be fair and efficient, but to work effectively in its role underpinning our economic health, we need to have frank conversations about fundamental, holistic reform. And those conversations need to lead to action, sooner and not later,” he said.
