Henry told us in his guide to the Institutional Framework of Taxation in Australia that the Australian Taxation System is one of the most complex in the world and is made up of approximately 125 taxes including taxes such as Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax and Goods and Services Tax just to name a few.He also mentioned that there are many different organisations that play different and varied roles within this system to ensure its integrity and all Australians are equally treated with equity.

The Australian Taxation System is embedded in the way of life for all Australian taxpayers, we pay tax on our income, we pay tax when we purchase goods and use services, we pay tax when we sell assets and this is just to name a few but in return the Government provides services and benefits e.g. hospitals, schools, defence, and financial assistance to those in need etc.

As we know the government relies very heavily on the revenue from taxation to be able to finance its activities and services it offers to the public and reforms on taxation are often a focus of governments.An area of taxation reform that is currently being reviewed by the Government is the deductibility of work relatedexpenses for employees and introducing a standard limit for deductions based on the system used in other countries eg UK.It has been an area of discussion for a while now in Australia, with some arguing it should be introduced as it will save the Government billions of dollars and simplify the taxation requirement for many taxpayers who are employees only.

Part One

Review Australian newspapers such as the West Australian, Financial Review, The Australian, Sunday Times and various others for articles on the area mentioned above.You need to find 10 newspaper articles which will be handed in with your assignment.The articles should be from 2016 or 2017 only.If you do not have access to Australian Newspapers then you may use the Factiva Database within the Curtin Library.A factsheet on how to use this database and a short video presentation is included in the assessment link for this assignment on the Blackboard.These newspaper articles must be scanned or saved as PDF files and uploaded to the Blackboard in the appropriate area within the assessment tab.Please Note we will not accept links to the articles.

Part Two

After reading newspapers and looking for the articles on the subject of limiting work related expenses to a standardised dollar amount and the debate being carried out in the public arena by political parties, lobby groups and the general public, you should have started to develop your own view on the concept of limiting work related deductions to a fixed amount.

For this area of the assessment you need to explain

a)What work related deductions are within an Australian concept and what are some of the most common ones taxpayers who are employees claim

b)What the benefits and disadvantages are of the proposed plan to fix a standard amount when employees want to claim work related deductions.

c)What is your opinion of this plan eg is a good thing or a bad thing, should the government make changes to it or leave it alone, who do you believe benefits from it if changes are made.This area is based about your opinion so you need to ensure that you give us your own personal views of the topic and not a summary of the articles you have collected in part one of the assessment task.

The requirements of the assignment for part two is to produce a 1000 to 1500 word essay on your opinion of this topic which should be based on your findings from the Australian newspapers you have collected and any other research you may want to undertake, please do not just provide a detailed summary of the articles you have included in Part 1

The word limit does not take into account the cover page or references and we will allow an excess of 10%.

Henry told us in his guide to the Institutional Framework of Taxation in Australia that the Australian Taxation System is one of the most complex in the world and is made up of approximately 125 taxes including taxes such as Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax and Goods and Services Tax just to name a few. He also mentioned that there are many different organisations that play different and varied roles within this system to ensure its integrity and all Australians are equally treated with equity. The Australian Taxation System is embedded in the way of life for all Australian taxpayers, we pay tax on our income, we pay tax when we purchase goods and use services, we pay tax when we sell assets and this is just to name a few but in return the Government provides services and benefits e.g. hospitals, schools, defence, and financial assistance to those in need etc. As we know the government relies very heavily on the revenue from taxation to be able to finance its activities and services it offers to the public and reforms on taxation are often a focus of governments. An area of taxation reform that is currently being reviewed by the Government is the deductibility of work related expenses for employees and introducing a standard limit for deductions based on the system used in other countries eg UK. It has been an area of discussion for a while now in Australia, with some arguing it should be introduced as it will save the Government billions of dollars and simplify the taxation requirement for many taxpayers who are employees only. Part One Review Australian newspapers such as the West Australian, Financial Review, The Australian, Sunday Times and various others for articles on the area mentioned above. You need to find 10 newspaper articles which will be handed in with your assignment. The articles should be from 2016 or 2017 only. If you do not have access to Australian Newspapers then you may use the Factiva Database within the Curtin Library. A factsheet on how to use this database and a short video presentation is included in the assessment link for this assignment on the Blackboard. These newspaper articles must be scanned or saved as PDF files and uploaded to the Blackboard in the appropriate area within the assessment tab. Please Note we will not accept links to the articles. Part Two After reading newspapers and looking for the articles on the subject of limiting work related expenses to a standardised dollar amount and the debate being carried out in the public arena by political parties, lobby groups and the general public, you should have started to develop your own view on the concept of limiting work related deductions to a fixed amount. For this area of the assessment you need to explain a) What work related deductions are within an Australian concept and what are some of the most common ones taxpayers who are employees claim b) What the benefits and disadvantages are of the proposed plan to fix a standard amount when employees want to claim work related deductions. c) What is your opinion of this plan eg is a good thing or a bad thing, should the government make changes to it or leave it alone, who do you believe benefits from it if changes are made. This area is based about your opinion so you need to ensure that you give us your own personal views of the topic and not a summary of the articles you have collected in part one of the assessment task. The requirements of the assignment for part two is to produce a 1000 to 1500 word essay on your opinion of this topic which should be based on your findings from the Australian newspapers you have collected and any other research you may want to undertake, please do not just provide a detailed summary of the articles you have included in Part 1 The word limit does not take into account the cover page or references and we will allow an excess of 10%