Taxation 231 Written Assessment

Tax 231

Written Assessment

29th April 2013

Dillon Best

14856572

14856572@student.curtin.edu.au

The Australian economy is regulated and controlled by the government through the uses of Taxes. This allows the government to provide the necessary benefits to the population of Australia. Although the intentions of taxation are good, do we currently have the optimal system in place? How could the current taxation system be improved, is it too complex or not complex enough? Are the taxes fair to all people or do some benefit more than others? I will be expressing my opinion on the current state of the Australia Tax System, outline my beliefs of its shortcomings and also its triumphs. I will be mentioning the successes of taxes such as GST and income tax, as well as the failures of reporting requirements for businesses relating to these taxes and the carbon tax.

All businesses are required by law to submit tax statements to the Australian Tax Office (ATO). These include Goods and Services Tax (GST) reports and Business Activity Statements (BAS). These are used by the Australian Tax Office to regulate and audit business on their operations. This is to eliminate fraudulent businesses from unjustly claims BAS returns or GST returns. However, these reports put a lot of strain on Small to Medium Entities (SME). This is confirmed by Tim Fettis, who outlines the key issues that SMEs identified as major limiters to business growth in his article on the 28th of March 2013. I discussed how SMEs are requesting that the government simplify the reporting standards such to lesser the burden on businesses. I agree with this as working for a large company, I am aware of the large amounts of time and effort required to prepare such reports and I am unsure how a SMEs would have the time to complete such complex reports. Due to the complex reports required to be submitted to the ATO on a quarterly basis, I would deem our that our tax system is overly complex and could driver...