Andrew Leigh

LABOR TO HELP CANBERRANS NAVIGATE TAX SYSTEM WITH TAX CLINIC 

A Shorten Labor Government will ensure that all Canberrans have help navigating the tax system by helping fund the University of Canberra Tax Clinic. 

This election will be a choice between a united Shorten Labor Government, which will help Canberrans with the support they need, or more of the Liberals’ cuts and chaos. We need real change, because more of the same isn’t good enough. 

Labor will commit $150,000 annually to the University of Canberra Tax Clinic as part of our proposed expansion of 10 tax clinics around Australia. 

While multinationals and millionaires can afford an armada of experts to navigate the tax system, low- and middle-income Australians are often intimidated by the tax system, and unsure where to turn to get help. 

Here in Canberra, we’ve seen the literal decimation of the public service during the Liberals’ time in office, including 4,000 jobs cuts from the Australian Tax Office. The man wielding the knife is now too busy carving out chaotic deals with Clive Palmer – a man whose private jet was registered in a tax haven – to worry about the aftermath. 

Labor is committed to working with everyday Australians.  

Tax clinics like Canberra’s will provide free tax assistance for disadvantaged communities. Each tax clinic will have volunteers, students and pro bono tax practitioners on hand to help low-income taxpayers, as well as small and microbusinesses, with administrative tax matters, including completing tax returns and responding to queries raised by the tax office. 

The former Inspector General of Taxation, Ali Noroozi, has stated that tax clinics “have the potential to be of significant assistance to vulnerable taxpayers”, noting the model of Low Income Tax Clinics in the United States. 

A Shorten Labor Government would also change the laws to allow clinics to register as tax agents in their own right, as well as providing deductible gift recipient status to facilitate partnerships with experienced tax professionals and institutions. 

After Labor announced our policy of ongoing funding for ten tax clinics, the Morrison Government begrudgingly said that it would fund one year ‘tax clinic trials’.  

Canberrans need to know that their tax clinic will get ongoing support, not a 12-month trial.   

Only Labor can guarantee appropriate funding certainty for tax clinics and the tax office.

ENDS

Authorised by Noah Carroll ALP Canberra.