Revenue Group stakeholder consultation meeting

View a listing of Revenue Group stakeholder consultation meetings that the Institute has representation on:

• Treasury Revenue Group Stakeholder Consultation meeting on 28 November 2012

  Twice a year Rob Heferen (Head of Treasury's Revenue Group) and his GM team meet with the principal tax consultative bodies. In addition to the Institute and other professional bodies, such as the LCA, this includes representatives from the not-for-profit sector and community groups.

  Treasury opened the meeting with a series of graphs which emphasised the current fiscal constraint governing tax reform. The key message is that there isn't much money in the kitty to fund changes to the tax, or indeed other systems, and what money there is, is already largely spoken for e.g. national dental disability scheme. The unspoken implication is that the government is likely to continue its recent focus on paring back tax concessions.

  Other issues discussed included the proposed explicit ethical framework for external consultation. Discussion revolved around the scope of the framework e.g. tax policy design versus tax law design stages and that this commitment should cut both ways. The meeting also tried to focus attention on what the group could practically do to make the few aspirational tax comments in the Asian Century White Paper more concrete.

• Revenue Group stakeholder consultation meeting - minutes released

  On 20 February 2012, Treasury released the minutes of the Revenue Group stakeholder consultation meeting held on 6 December 2011.  The Institute was represented at the meeting by Tax Counsel, Yasser El-Ansary.

  The Revenue Group stakeholder consultation program aims to engage the taxpayer community in a wider conversation about strategic tax policy issues. This program supplements Treasury consultations on specific tax measures.

  Consultation meetings are held twice a year with representatives from the tax profession, business and community groups.