ACS Concerned About Impact of Tax Reform on IT Industry

[Tom Worthington]

At 16:27 15/08/98 +1000, Greg Taylor wrote:

>At 17:42 14/08/98 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote, on the link mailing list:
>>Friday 14 August 1998 - The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has
>> questioned the overall benefit of the Howard Government's proposed tax
>> reform package for the IT&T industry... http://www.acs.org.au/news/gst.htm
>
>I can find nothing in this media statement to indicate that ACS has
>examined the "overall benefit" of the tax reform package...
>It would have been better if ACS had remained silent on this matter until
>such time as a proper evaluation could be performed...

The ACS was asked by the media to comment on the effect of the package on
the IT industry and had to do so based on the available information, in the
time available. The alternative would be to have only public comment by
government spokespersons, allowing little opportunity for a balanced discussion.

>... Special pleadings from organisations claiming to represent negatively
> impacted industries are likely to be given short shrift by the
> government...

The ACS has about 14,000 members and has been around for 30 years. Part of
its charter is to argue policies for a healthy Australian IT industry. The
ACS has worked with government over the years, sometimes the advice is less
welcome, but is still given.

Recent ACS Submissions and Position papers are at:
http://www.acs.org.au/index-positions.htm

ps: One of my predecessors as ACS President was also President of the
Liberal party. So the ACS can't be accused of being a creature of the ALP.  ;-)


Tom Worthington	           http://www.acslink.net.au/~tomw   PO Box 13
Immediate Past President     tomw@acslink.net.au    Belconnen ACT 2617
Australian Computer Society
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E-Documents, 20 Aug: http://acsys.anu.edu.au/news/SymposiumF.shtml