It's all well and good to say tax is voluntary if you mean it in some philosophical, egoist, radical anarchist way but the fact is if you don't pay your taxes you could well go to prison or be . When they say the tax system is based on voluntary compliance, they mean it in the same way laws against murder are. The government doesn't spy on you 24/7 to make sure you aren't killing anyone, they just expect you not to do it and only investigate if someone finds a dead body. Similarly, they expect you to be a responsible adult and pay the taxes you owe without having to be audited, but if you don't they'll take action from sending a polite letter to beseiging your house with armoured cars and snipers. I'm going to my student union advice centre to ask about how to deal with CGT events which aren't due to things already tied up with my TFN, and how to pay tax due on it (whether they'd just tell my boss to add more to my PAYG witholding for it or what.) If you don't like paying taxes, either lobby for tax cuts or leave the country.
I must admit that I tire of this old chestnut again, which has been discussed every few months. The legal fact is that paying taxation is not mandatory, and yes I know someone that has been taken to court by the ATO several times regarding their claim over his unpayment of tax. He represents himself and keeps winning! That's one option however, if I had my time again, I would obey the law and not pay tax.
On what basis could he get out of paying tax? And what about people like Glen Wheatley who was jailed for 18 months for his role in a tax avoidance scheme?
It has been mentioned in these forums previously about the community law resource groups in QLD, NSW and VIC, and I suggest that you contact them for advice as they are generally people who actually walk the talk. Go to their meetings and you will garner a lot of legal information that will challenge what you currently believe the intrepretation of the law to be and what it actually is.
Can't he present them with his schedule of fees at the onset of such encounters? Wouldn't that minimise time they hassle him for/at all? Also what if he hits them up from the very beggining [from the seat of his car] when they ask him to get out with: "Thank you good sir/madam I can both see you and hear you easily from the confines of this vessal, which I shall remain in with all my god given and inalienable rights intact; do we have an accord / do you understand?" (prolly better to go with do we have an accord) I really don't know much about this stuff but I've had a look at Raymond StClair's blog a few times. Those videos are good fun to watch.
