At the coal face many accountants and taxpayers were complaining about ATO actions that never seemed to disappear despite D’Ascenzo’s valiant efforts to push new corporate values and strategic directions that made the tax system fairer. There was a perception that his staff out in the suburban branches were “not living the values” of the organisation he wanted it to be.
More recently, last year Parliament’s all-powerful Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit took a shot at D’Ascenzo and called for greater scrutiny of the ATO:
“The committee was concerned by the ATO’s reluctance at the hearing to identify areas where it considered improvement was required and to acknowledge the significance and importance of individual complaints. The committee expects, at the next biannual hearing, to see an acknowledgement that ongoing improvements are necessary and that the ATO is making efforts to ensure its culture is one that accepts the importance of complaints and a responsibility for addressing their causes.”
D’Ascenzo gratefully accepted the role of chair of the government’s cross-agency pursuit of rich tax cheats known as Operation Wickenby. In that role he presided over agencies such as the Australian Crime Commission and the Australian Federal Police. The $430.9 million investment by the government has struggled to gain success with only $351 million dollars collected by audit action. On top of that we have had allegations of Wickenby leaking the personal tax affairs of prominent Australians to the media, and the botched criminal investigation into Paul Hogan and John Cornell which cost taxpayers $30 million. Who can forget when Hogan was detained in paradise by an ATO departure prohibition order because he was a flight risk?
You have to wonder if the government was becoming weary of the negative publicity.
So who will replace D’Ascenzo as commissioner? Many are tipping it will be an outsider. I agree?—?but with a twist. I expect Jennie Granger, a former second commissioner of taxation, who was recently head-hunted by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the UK’s revenue agency, where she is director-general of compliance and enforcement with a staff of 25,000. When she was in the ATO she tried to change the “gotcha” mentality to one where the emphasis was on helping people and businesses do the right thing.
This article was first published on Crikey.
