There has been a major development in the last days of Federal Parliament for this year. For the first time a parliamentarian has made a clear call for reform of the Australian Taxation Office.
Liberal elder statesman Senator Eric Abetz is a former senior minister and government leader in the Senate. Last Wednesday (4 December) he delivered a punchy speech in which he demonstrated why the ATO needs to be reformed. He also outlined a model for how that should be done. More...
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“Reform the ATO”, says Senator. An important speech!
Regulation-lovers with a ‘solution’ desperately seeking a problem—Gig it!!!
Since the Global Financial Crisis, unemployment has dropped to low levels in most of the developed world at least. That’s fantastic. It needs to continue.
One of the important factors in this positive trend seems to be the evolution of work arrangements that enable quick responses to fast-moving markets and consumers. Flexible work creates work! But this gets regulation-lovers worried. They reckon that if work isn’t controlled through government regulation, there’s got to be something wrong. Currently their focus is on the so-called ‘gig’ economy. Apparently, it’s a big ‘problem’ that needs a solution. More...
US Congress and Trump agree. Discipline the IRS to prevent taxpayer abuse. Message for Australia
1 July 2019 proved an historic day for US taxpayers when President Trump signed into law the Taxpayers First Act.
The Act is intended to bring discipline to the US tax agency (IRS) after years of strong evidence of both its administrative incompetence and systemic abuse of taxpayers, particularly small business people. More...
Can an incoming tide be stopped? Some powerful people are trying
Some claim that freelancing, self-employment, whatever you want to call it, is surging in developed economies. For example: More...
Trump’s self-employed revolution
Last week, our Executive Director, Ken Phillips, contemplated some ‘revolutionary’ thoughts around self-employment as part of the summer break ‘think’ process.
Trump
But those thoughts are minor compared with President-elect Donald Trump’s proposals for self-employed people in the USA. According to Forbes magazine and CBSNews, Trump is going to open the tax floodgate for the self-employed, allowing them to access the 15 per cent tax rate he intends to apply to companies. More...
Unions are non-taxable businesses providing services to large corporations
It’s been quite a week on the construction anti-corruption front: More...
To gig or not to gig? Fairness and the new economy
This month, ICA Executive Director Ken Phillips has an article in Flying Solo explaining why the new unfair contract laws for small business people are so significant. It’s a rather timely article because the ACCC has just released a new guide to the laws.
It’s worth being aware of your rights as a ‘solo’ business person under these new laws. These Australian laws are a global first. It’s these sort of laws that will make the ‘gig’ economy fairer and hence sustainable as a new business model. More...
Self-employed update: Do we really need saving from ourselves?
At ICA, we come across all sort of weird attacks on the self-employed. But one of the strangest is that we ‘screw over ourselves’. That was the argument mounted in California’s self-described ‘premier monthly business publication’, Comstock.
The ‘save us from ourselves’ argument was essentially the justification for Australia’s recent (fortunately failed) attempt to destroy the businesses of 35,000 owner-drivers. Lawyers are preparing the case for the class action to recover losses. Info here. More...
Update: The fortunes of independent contracting
The debate never seems to stop about whether being an independent worker is a good or bad thing.
Californian regulators and the Teamsters Union seem intent on forcing ride-sharing workers to be employees. There’s a $12 million lawsuit against Lyft and Uber is involved in long drawn-out Californian litigation. Further, Californian lawmakers are looking to make it very difficult to work in the ‘gig’ economy. More...
Politics isn't all that confusing. Really??
Even a casual observer of US politics would be aware of the wild circus happening around Donald Trump. The core of the Trump ‘issue’ is the rejection of party political ‘machines’ stomping on the will of the people.
Even Trump’s most likely (fellow) Republican contender, Tea Party Congressman Ted Cruz, is an anti-Republican machine person. He’s led the Tea Party in pushing for smaller (no deficit) government against both Republicans and Democrats. But even the Tea Party describes Trump as a ‘narcissistic demagogue’. Could Trump win the Republican nomination? Here’s an excellent New York Times article explaining the Republican Convention voting process. Now there’s confusion! More...
Recent Posts
- “Reform the ATO”, says Senator. An important speech!
- Christmas just around the corner—some quick updates
- Let’s stamp out reverse factoring—It’s big business at its worst
- A Victorian Act of Evil — Most likely unconstitutional! — Most likely to be passed in Parliament
- ATO—Bullying and fear. IRS—Accountability, checks and balances, service!
- Explosive, gobsmacking statements by Tax Commissioner raise serious concerns about democracy, the rule of law and cover-up
- Big business is endlessly creative in screwing small business
- Democracy crumbling in chaos—do boofheads now rule?
- ‘Houston we have a problem’—says ATO—at long last!
- ATO power push lacks proper checks and balances—Credit agency reporting
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