NO.102

INCOME TAX ACT REDUCED BY AROUND 30 PER CENT

The Treasurer today announced the Government plans to cut tax law by close

to 30 per cent.

The advisory Board of Taxation has been reviewing the tax legislation with

a view to initiating ways to promote the ease of use of the income tax law.

The Board has now provided a report to the Government on provisions of the

tax law that are inoperative and can be repealed. The Board estimates that up

to 28 per cent, or 2,100 pages, of the Attorney-General’s Department’s Scaleplus

(now ComLaw www.comlaw.gov.au) version of the combined Income Tax Assessment

Acts can be repealed.

Inoperative provisions are those that have ceased to apply to taxpayers, either

because they have no effect after a date in the past or because all the transactions

they did affect have now concluded.

Repealing the inoperative provisions is a significant step to reduce complexity

in our tax laws. Tax practitioners will find it much easier to navigate the

printed and electronic versions of the income tax law, and the size of the reprinted

tax legislation will be reduced.

In addition to the consultation already undertaken by the Board, the Government

will undertake further consultation on the draft legislation to repeal the inoperative

provisions. This will give the public an opportunity to identify any provisions

that might still have an ongoing operation, minimising any risk of repealing

a provision that should remain in the law. A draft Bill is expected to be ready

for release early next year. In the meantime, the Board’s report is available

on the Board of Taxation’s website (www.taxboard.gov.au).

The Treasurer thanked the Board of Taxation for the report and for the high

quality of its work on this proposal.

MELBOURNE

24 November 2005

Contact: David Alexander

(03) 9650 0244