Towards Community Ownership of the Tax System: The taxation Ombudsman’s perspective

Philip Moss reviews the various “controls” over the exercise of his powers of administration by the Commissioner of Taxation in Australia. He considers the terms of the legislation under which the Commissioner operates, the reporting requirements and the compliance with audit guidelines that affect the Commissioner. He describes the various Parliamentary committees that scrutinise tax administration and comments on them. He does the same for the Board of Taxation and the Treasury. The roles Administrative Appeals Tribunal and of the courts are also considered. More importantly, the author considers the purpose and powers of the Inspector General of Taxation, and the Special Tax Adviser to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. These two roles appear to overlap and even compete but, as the paper shows, they are complementary. The latter is concerned with individual taxpayers’ circumstances whereas the former has a wider, more general policy ambit and is concerned with tax administration generally.