Page 2061 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 25 October 1989
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Mr Speaker, it is yet a further demonstration of the knee-jerk reaction of the Residents Rally party in relation to issues of this sort. They do not do their research and homework on the legislation. They wait until they are actually standing on their feet in the chamber and then in a flash of brilliance they all of a sudden decide, "The best thing we can do on this is to adjourn it indefinitely while we go off and do a bit of work on it". That is not good enough. It has been there since 28 September. There has been plenty of opportunity for the sorts of processes which are appropriate. I would submit, Mr Speaker, that the proper course of action is to proceed to deal with the legislation today.
MR MOORE (12.49): I have a relatively brief speech, and I think it should bring us back to the topic that we are addressing, which is this particular Bill. The basic principle behind the amendments is to prevent the evasion of tax, in this case payroll tax, by artificial schemes to disguise the relationship between employers and employees. I fully endorse any measure proposed to put an end to scams and schemes designed for no other reason than to avoid tax.
It is one thing for people, whether they are business people or not, whether they are in charge of large companies or not, to arrange their affairs on the basis of improving their efficiency, their profitability or their potential for expansion. It is another thing entirely to make arrangements directed at not paying a fair and equitable amount of tax. We pay the price for that. The Government pays the price through the reduced services it can provide the community, and the community pays through the higher costs and taxes that it must bear.
Throughout the 1980s we have seen the discovery of one tax avoidance scheme after another and measures to wipe them out. Tax evasion is, or at least was, a national industry, a national sport even; but we have all seen it for what it is - a drain on the resources of the country as a whole. It is a shoddy industry and a disreputable sport nowadays.
Most of the rorts are now gone, but it is clear from these amendments that the payroll tax legislation has become one of the last refuges of the tax scoundrels. I accept the Government's right to close every loophole which is discovered and I support the political will shown in doing so.
Anti-avoidance measures are broad-ranging, by their very nature, to cover every possibility. They are also open to the charge of being draconian from those who would prefer that things remain as they are. That is inevitable. The Government will have to listen to the protests of vested interests. It is interesting that a former colleague of mine in the Rally, Mr Collaery, who is so determined to sniff out corruption in every quarter, is prepared to delay measures against tax dodgers and allow them to go on their merry way a while longer.
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