Footnotes

Chapter 1 - Tax Laws Amendment (Confidentiality of Taxpayer Information) Bill 2009

[1]        Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – www.un.org.au

[2]        Selection of Bills Committee, Report No. 18 of 2009, 26 November 2009, Appendix 6.

[3]        The Hon. Dr Craig Emerson MP, Second reading speech, House of Representatives Hansard, Thursday 19 November 2009, p. 5.

[4]        Source: http://www.treasury.gov.au/contentitem.asp?NavId=037&ContentID=1121 

[5]        The Hon Chris Bowen MP, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs, 'Government Moves to Consolidate the Taxation Secrecy and Disclosure Provisions', Press Release 015, 13 March 2009.

Chapter 2 - About the bill

[1]        The Department of the Treasury, Review of Taxation Secrecy and Disclosure Provisions, August 2006, p. 1.

[2]        The Department of the Treasury, Review of Taxation Secrecy and Disclosure Provisions, August 2006, p. 1. These protections were provided through the introduction of section 16 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936).

[3]        Tax Laws Amendment (Confidentiality of Taxpayer Information) Bill 2009, Explanatory Memorandum, p. 3.

[4]        The Department of the Treasury, Review of Taxation Secrecy and Disclosure Provisions, August 2006, p. 7.

[5]        Explanatory Memorandum, p. 11.

[6]        Explanatory Memorandum, pp 79 - 80.

[7]        Explanatory Memorandum, pp 9 – 10.

[8]        Explanatory Memorandum, p. 10.

[9]        The Hon. Dr Craig Emerson MP, Second reading speech, House of Representatives Hansard, Thursday 19 November 2009, p. 5.

[10]      The Hon. Dr Craig Emerson MP, Second reading speech, House of Representatives Hansard, Thursday 19 November 2009, p. 5.

[11]      The term, 'taxation law' is currently defined in section 995-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997).

[12]      Tax Laws Amendment (Confidentiality of Taxpayer Information) Bill 2009, p. 5.

[13]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 22.

[14]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 26.

[15]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 26.

[16]      Protected information will be defined in new section 355-30 as meaning 'information that: was disclosed or obtained under or for the purposes of a law that was a taxation law (other than the Tax Agent Service Act 2009) when the information was disclosed or obtained; and relates to the affairs of an entity; and identifies, or is reasonably capable of being used to identify, the entity.

[17]      Explanatory Memorandum, paragraph 5.8, p. 42.

[18]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 54.

[19]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 55.

[20]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 56.

[21]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 58.

[22]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 61.

[23]      Tax Laws Amendment (Confidentiality of Taxpayer Information) Bill 2009, Item 8, Table 3, s355-65.

[24]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 62.

[25]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 63.

[26]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 64.

[27]      Explanatory Memorandum, pp 70 – 71.

[28]      Explanatory Memorandum, example 6.5, paragraph 6.18, p. 74.

[29]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 77.

Chapter 3 - Views on the bill

[1]        Rule of Law Association of Australia, Submission 9, 2 March 2010, p. 2.

[2]        Australian Federal Police, Submission 2, December 2009, p. 2.

[3]        Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions, Submission 3, 17 December 2009, p. 1.

[4]        Australian Privacy Foundation, Submission to the Commonwealth Treasury, April 2009, p.1.

[5]        The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, Submission to the Commonwealth Treasury, 17 April 2009.

[6]        PricewaterhouseCoopers, Submission to the Commonwealth Treasury, 17 April 2009, p. 1.

[7]        Explanatory Memorandum, paragraph 1.19, p. 9.

[8]        The Honourable Dr Craig Emerson MP, Second reading speech, House of Representatives Hansard, Thursday 19 November 2009, p. 5.

[9]        Explanatory Memorandum, p. 8.

[10]      Tax Laws Amendment (Confidentiality of Taxpayer Information) Bill 2009, p. 3.

[11]      Explanatory Memorandum, paragraph 1.17, pp 8-9.

[12]      These particular changes were influenced at least in part by the submission lodged by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to the Treasury in April 2009.

[13]      Explanatory Memorandum, paragraph 1.18, p. 9.  Prior to the addition of this list of factors, the explanatory memorandum only contained guidance similar to that now set out in paragraph 1.18. Public consultation identified a need to provide more certainty and clarity.

[14]      RoLAA, Submission 9, p. 3.

[15]      RoLAA, Submission 9, p. 3.

[16]      'I support the view expressed in the discussion paper and would submit that in the process of standardising the secrecy and disclosure provisions in the tax law it should be made clear that the provisions do not protect information that is already publicly available.' Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, Submission to the Treasury, 28 September 2006, p. 8. It is also noted that the Hon Dr Bob Such MP, in his submission to this inquiry (Submission 2) called for the names of 'tax dodgers' to be published.

[17]      Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Submission to the Treasury, April 2009, pp. 7-8.

[18]      Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Submission 1, paragraphs 6-8, p. 3.

[19]      Explanatory Memorandum, paragraph 1.29, p. 11.

[20]      The explanatory memorandum contends that the protections of Division 355 may be broader than those of the Privacy Act as taxation secrecy provisions extend beyond protecting the personal information of natural persons (individuals) to cover those of other entities.

[21]      Protected information will be defined in new section 355-30 as meaning 'information that: was disclosed or obtained under or for the purposes of a law that was a taxation law (other than the Tax Agent Service Act 2009) when the information was disclosed or obtained; and relates to the affairs of an entity; and identifies, or is reasonably capable of being used to identify, the entity.

[22]      Explanatory Memorandum, paragraph 5.8, p. 42.

[23]      Item 7 s355-50.

[24]      Tax Institute of Australia, Submission to the Treasury, 22 April 2009, p. 5.

[25]      PricewaterhouseCoopers, Submission to the Treasury, 17 April 2009, p. 3.

[26]      Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, Submission to the Treasury, 17 April 2009, p. 1.

[27]      Mr Lucas Rutherford, Analyst, Business Tax Division, Department of the Treasury, Committee Hansard, Thursday 25 February 2010, p. 4.

[28]      Mr Paul McCullough, General Manager, Business Tax Division, Department of the Treasury, Committee Hansard, Thursday 25 February 2010, pp 4 – 5.

[29]      Including Australian business numbers and tax file numbers.

[30]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 49.

[31]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 61.

[32]      Explanatory Memorandum, pp 51-54.

[33]      The Treasury, Submission 7, February 2010, p. 2.

[34]      As required by paragraph 1.18 of the Explanatory Memorandum.

[35]      Treasury, Submission 7, p. 3.

[36]      Treasury, Submission 7, p. 2. In giving evidence at the public hearing Treasury stated that 'it is not a common occurrence and, as a result, neither the Tax Office or I ... could identify any particular case... it is a very rare circumstance where it would be required.' Mr Lucas Rutherford, Treasury, Proof Committee Hansard, 25 February 2010, p. 3.

[37]      Explanatory Memorandum, paragraphs 5.59-5.60, p. 59.

[38]      Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Submission to the Treasury, April 2009, paragraph 19, p. 5.

[39]      Explanatory Memorandum, pp 59-60.

[40]      Explanatory Memorandum, paragraph 5.66, p. 60.

[41]      Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Submission 1, pp 4-5.

[42]      The role of the Fair Work Ombudsman is to ensure compliance with Australia's workplace laws under the Fair Work Act 2009 – Explanatory Memorandum, p. 63.

[43]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 63.

[44]      Mr Lucas Rutherford, Treasury, Committee Hansard, 25 February 2010, pp 7 – 8.

[45]      Sen. Fierravanti-Wells, Committee Hansard, Thursday 25 February 2010, p. 9.

[46]      That paper set out a framework for secrecy and disclosure based on 7 principles, principle 7 being the degree of connection that the information has to the original use for which it was collected and requiring that the more remote the use of information from the reason it was originally collected, the more protection that is required and therefore a more specific exception allowing the disclosure.

[47]      Explanatory Memorandum, p. 65.

[48]      The CDPP contends that the proposed definition would mean that tax information could not be disclosed in relation to the investigation of some serious non-indictable offences. Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, Submission 4, 17 December 2009, p. 2.

[49]      Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, Submission 4, 17 December 2009, p. 2.

[50]      Section 4G of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) defines indictable offences as being those punishable by imprisonment for a period exceeding 12 months.

[51]      Treasury, Proof Committee Hansard, Thursday 24 February 2010, pp 5 – 6.

[52]      Injunctive relief in this context refers to the seeking of an injunction (a court order compelling a party to refrain from doing a specified act) to be relieved from some act or behaviour.

[53]      Tax Institute of Australia, Submission to the Treasury, 22 April 2009, p. 8.