Whilst it is well known there are only two certainties in life (death and taxes), and we should all take the necessary care to lodge our taxes accurately and on time, it seems to be obvious overkill to incarcerate someone (and fine them $50,000) for not lodging their returns on time.
Ordinarily, in line with ATO’s slogan “we’re here to help” the ATO would sequester the client’s bank accounts and automatically calculate the tax / GST one would have to pay (usually extremely biased in the ATO’s favour (they will tax all the income and ignore all deductions)), but in a contrary to the norm, ATO have decided to step up their enforcement proceedings.
Dr Iain Russel was sentenced to 7 months jail and a $50,000 fine, and convicted of 18 charges of failing to comply with court orders (as the ATO had received court orders for Dr Russel to lodge his returns prior).
ATO has a duty to do what’s right for the community and ensure that everyone pays their fair share of tax (whether they act in a fair manner is a story for another time), however, one must ponder, if Dr Iain Russel was unemployed, would ATO have been just as tyrannical in their attempts to have him lodge his returns? I highly doubt it.
One would assume a Doctor would pay more tax than the average taxpayer, so you would assume ATO would be grateful to those who work hard and contribute the most, but unfortunately, this is not the case, from the ATO’s point of view, those who work hard and pay the most tax are the ones with a microscope on them, the enemy if you will and those the ATO need to attack at every corner, whereas those who are unemployed (and able to obtain work) are rewarded with subsided housing, $705.30 a fortnight along with a plethora of other benefits, which begs the question, where is the incentive to work hard??