Editors 2025
The 2025 Volume 27(1) issue of the Journal of Australian Taxation contains five very interesting and yet diverse articles relating to taxation law in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and Indonesia.
The first article by Harry Waddell explores the current levels of tax literacy of small business owners in New Zealand through interviews with tax practitioners. In particular the article assesses whether there are any demographics that have higher levels of tax literacy and if there are any areas of taxation law that are less understood than others. He found from his research that tax practitioners were of the view that, amongst other things, small business owners who had more experience and higher levels of general literacy and education were more likely to have higher levels of tax literacy.
The second article written by Vincent Ooi critically evaluates the lack of pre-planning before the Covid-19 outbreak and the sub-optimal policy outcomes. He contends that ccrucial lessons can be drawn from the experience of Singapore and Australia in the pandemic in implementing various tax and non-tax economic measures; lessons that can help in preparing for the next pandemic (‘Disease X’). His article analyses and critically evaluates three main categories of economic measures: direct payments, tax measures and non-tax ‘other’ measures. He finds that direct payment measures such as jobs support had a very significant impact on preserving jobs and supporting the economy. However, eligibility conditions have to be carefully designed for such measures to be feasible. This article finds that insolvency and rent moratoriums can be effective in dealing with the immediate effects of a pandemic, though they must be allowed to expire in a timely manner. Finally, the article highlights the potential benefits of loans facilitated by the Government.
The third article is written by Sabrina Hakim and Yulianti Abbas and examines the potential implementation of tax mediation as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism in Indonesia, referencing Australia’s In-House Facilitation model. Using a qualitative case study approach, data was collected through interviews with tax authority officials, tax court judges, consultants, and professional mediators. The findings indicate that the current dispute resolution system remains confrontational, bureaucratic, and lacks meaningful dialogue, highlighting the need for a trust-based mechanism that views taxpayers as strategic partners. Integrating the Slippery Slope Framework, Cooperative Compliance, and Dispute Systems Design, the study proposes a strategic mediation design focused on the pre-objection stage, featuring neutral facilitators, simplified procedures, and an adaptive regulatory framework. Mediation is positioned not only as a dispute resolution tool but also as an instrument for institutional reflection and trust-building. Recommendations include establishing a mediation unit within the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT), drafting a Ministerial Regulation (PMK) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and launching public education campaigns to strengthen voluntary compliance and the legitimacy of Indonesia’s tax system.
The fourth article is written by Muneer E. Hassan, Marina Bornman and Adrian Sawyer. This study sets out to provide some preliminary findings on the level of readability of the VAT Act in South Africa using well established formulae from the literature. The methodology is readability formulae developed in the education literature and as applied to taxation materials, including legislation, drawing upon the approaches used in overseas studies in countries such as Australia and New Zealand. The study also applies Generative AI (Copilot) to assist with rewriting tax materials to improve their readability. The findings reflect those in prior overseas studies, revealing that the South African VAT Act provisions are very challenging to read and understand, generally requiring the reader to be a university graduate. Material from SARS is found to be more readable than the legislation. The findings suggest that like other jurisdictions, considerable effort is needed to redraft the VAT Act and other material in such a way to improve legislative simplicity so as to make the material more accessible to a wider audience to read and understand. The use of Generative AI is shown to significantly improve readability through suggestions for rewriting VAT legislation although this still requires further review to ensure technical accuracy. This is a first time that the readability of the South African VAT Act has been undertaken, providing a further comparison to the findings of the overseas literature. It provides a basis to encourage legislative drafters to rewrite the VAT Act.
The fifth article is written by Audrey Haixin Tsik, Joseph Drew, Masato Miyazaki and Brian Dollery. The article focuses on tax limitations that are often thought of as an efficacious method of preventing the abuse of monopoly powers. However, to address waning financial sustainability or to meet community demands for services, it may also be necessary for tax limitation regimes to provide a way to move beyond a tax limit. Key to the integrity of a system such as this is robust and reliable evidence. This paper provides a retrospective analysis of the reliability of key data used to make important decisions for local government in Australia to go beyond tax limitations. The authors find evidence to demonstrate a substantial discordance between projections used for decision-making and actual outcomes. They argue that these results may cast doubt on the integrity of tax limitation regimes. The authors then propose various important public policy interventions that might reasonably be used to mitigate matters.
John McLaren, John Minas and Sonali Walpola
Editors 2025