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In all our commentary on the Australian Taxation Office, not once have we personalised our criticisms.

Yes, we have said that the Tax Commissioner is a Tax Dictator. But that is a statement of legal fact. All tax power by statute is vested in the Tax Commissioner. And those powers make the Commissioner effectively policeperson, prosecutor, judge, jury and financial hangman. That is, the powers of the office holder of the Tax Commissioner are the powers of a dictator! Here’s what the Tax Commissioner can do to you. More...

If you watched ABC Four Corners last night, the evidence of the ATO's abusing its powers against small business people was compelling.

However, it’s one thing to understand the abuse! It’s another thing to find solutions. That’s why we’ve put together, with considerable legal input, a reform agenda for the ATO.

Today we launch, The Power to Audit is the Power to Destroy. More...

The evidence mounts on the ATO’s abuse of its powers with small business people. This will culminate in the Four Corners full story this Monday, ABC 8:30.

We highly recommend you watch this. The Four Corners TV promo is here. 

There has already been considerable coverage: More...

In the historic sector of Lisbon, Portugal, nestled quietly next to the imposing 13th Century Lisbon Cathedral is a nondescript block of a building. It houses the Museum of Aljube – Resistance and Freedom. For the naive tourist who wanders in from the intriguing, cobbled alleyways of Lisbon and not familiar with the more recent history of Portugal, the museum is a moving shake-up. The museum records the struggle against the dictatorship that governed Portugal from 1926 to 1974. This is recent history! The museum building itself housed the dictatorship’s secret police. As you move through rooms you find yourself standing in torture cells, places where murder was committed by the state in the name of the state.  More...