Author: admin

Political commentators have long said that the enactment of a comprehensive capital gains tax (CGT) in New Zealand (NZ) would be political suicide. However, sentiment towards a CGT in NZ has softened more recently with a number of commentators as well as business and political leaders supporting the introduction of a CGT.

In both the 2011 and 2014 General Elections the centre-left Labour Party campaigned on inter alia introducing a comprehensive CGT levied at a rate of 15 per cent. They lost in both elections but on the basis that a CGT is now part of the NZ political agenda of the left-of-centre parties coupled with the current mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system (which lends itself to coalition-based governments) it is arguably only a matter of time before a CGT is introduced in NZ by a Labour-led coalition.

This paper, using Adam Smith’s canons for a good income tax, considers the Labour Party CGT proposal and the United States (US) experience in dealing with capital gains. It notes that the NZ proposals are consistent with CGT regimes generally, such as it being realisation-based and not permitting indexing, but may involve complexities and pitfalls that the US system has previously encountered.

This article analyses the problem of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) and establishes how it can be targeted through information exchange systems. Particularly this article looks at the operation of information exchange provisions in existing bilateral Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs) and Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) and examines their deficiencies. The last part of the article looks at tackling BEPS through the establishment of a new multilateral treaty focused on automatic information exchange and discusses what such an instrument would require.

This article explains and investigates fraudulent phoenix activities in Australia, the nature of the problem and its size. Phoenix activity is prevalent in the area of unremitted employees’ superannuation guarantee contributions. The Commonwealth Government has increased its efforts to combat fraudulent phoenix activities however this article proposes new measures to combat fraudulent phoenix activities, specifically in relation to unremitted superannuation contributions and through improved online reporting relationships between the Australia Tax office and compliance of companies. This article also highlights the consequences of fraudulent phoenix activities whereby employees can lose their superannuation entitlements, creditors cannot recover their money and the government loses on non-payment of taxes, superannuation, workers’ compensation premiums and long service leave contributions. The effect of phoenix activity has further implications on the broader community, as more of these people will need to seek government assistance in the form of aged pensions when they retire.