O’Dwyer seeks answers from ATO
The Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer, has sought answers from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) regarding the accusations levelled at it by small businesses on ABC’s Four Corners on Monday.
Interviewees on the show accused the Office of being “a mongrel bunch of bastards” who use their extensive powers to target small business owners.
"They chase low-hanging fruit, people who are being honest and upright, and they whack them with a huge bill and then chase them,” one small business lobbyist claimed.
Another business operator said that "there's an agenda that's going on in there, and the Australian public know nothing about it”.
Money Management can confirm that O’Dwyer has asked for an explanation from the ATO regarding these and other statements made on the program.
The ATO deputy commissioner – small business, Deborah Jenkins, yesterday sought to explain the Office’s actions, saying that the program “focus[ed] heavily on a very small number of atypical cases and extrapolate these across the entire system”.
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Hannah Wootton
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