George Gilligan

Perceptions of tax fairness and tax compliance in Australia and Hong Kong ‐ a preliminary study

Discusses how important perceptions of tax fairness can be in forming tax‐compliant behaviour in various jurisdictions, based on a crosscultural study of Australia and Hong Kong. Defines fairness and its relationship with legitimacy. Describes a tax survey questionnaire administered to business students, which is broken down by demographic data and includes extensive correlations between tax‐fairness perception and tax‐compliance behaviour. Concludes that legitimacy is a crucial normative influence in shaping how fair tax systems are perceived to be and how likely people are to comply with their tax obligations.

Public awareness of corruption in Australia

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine public awareness and perceptions on corruption in Australia, a country that traditionally has been viewed as having relatively low levels of corruption.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents the findings of a random telephone survey of 300 people aged 16 and above, across the three most populated Australian states.Findings – The paper suggests that corruption may be a greater issue of concern for the Australian public than has been assumed in the past, given the relatively low levels of reported systematic corruption in Australia. Moreover, while there may be widespread agreement that corruption in Australia is harmful and perhaps inevitable, people can find it difficult at times to differentiate between what is corrupt and what is not.Originality/value – The findings presented in this paper illustrate that corruption is an issue of concern for members of the Australian public, with the majority of respondents agreeing that corruption seems to be inc...

Royal Commissions of Inquiry

This article first examines the historical conditions surrounding the evolution of royal commissions of inquiry, and the political and ideological functions that they may serve. The royal commissions of inquiry established in Australia during the 1970s and 1980s to inquire into organised crime are discussed in order to explore possibilities for a general explanation of royal commissions.The conclusion reached is that royal commissions of inquiry are an important component of official discourse and may perform a legitimation function for apparatuses of the state. However, royal commissions of inquiry are too diverse in their effects to be tied down to a uniform explanatory model, whether based upon notions of crisis motivation or legitimation deficit.

Peeping at Peps

This paper discusses the subject of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and some of the major issues associated with them. PEPs as a specific category are receiving increased attention from governments, law enforcement agencies and international organizations such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). An increased academic and theoretical focus upon PEPs is required because there is considerable uncertainty about the specific definition of PEPs, how precisely they may be categorized, what the impacts of their activities are and how they might be countered. This paper first discusses some of the ambiguities surrounding the definition of PEPs. The paper then emphasizes the unsurprising reality that definitional confusion regarding PEPs contributes to uncertainty about their incidence and effects. The paper then highlights some of the key policy challenges in responding to PEPs and provides examples of good and bad practice in seeking to counter the activities of PEPs. The paper concludes that it is important for governments and business organizations to be proactive about emerging risks relating to PEPs. However, experience suggests that it seems extremely difficult to segregate political contexts from how the harms and other problems associated with PEPs might be countered and that political expediency may be a defining overall factor in how responses to PEPs evolve.

Business, Risk and Organized Crime

This paper considers organized crime as various forms of business activity which may or may not have attracted the label of criminality. In particular, how perceptions of legitimacy and the effects of other normative factors will influence strongly whether activities, individuals and groupings may be viewed as constituent parts of organized crime. The paper first discusses some of the ambiguities surrounding the definition and practice of organized crime. It then emphasizes the inherent business focus of much organized crime activity and the crucial importance of legitimacy contexts in decision-making seeking to counter organized crime. The overall effects of organized crime are generally negative for society and organized crime activity can be brutal and harmful. The paper closes by acknowledging the rationality of at least some organized crime activity.

How Will the Regulation of Nanotechnology Develop? Clues from Other Sectors

This important volume is a timely contribution to increasing international calls to regulate nanotechnologies. By investigating the ways in which we could regulate these advances, and what we are learning from regulating existing technologies, such as biotechnologies and information technologies, the book debates the roles of government, business actors and the professions in protecting and enhancing the lives of citizens. In placing particular emphasis on the lessons of earlier technology advances, this book is unique in its broad consideration of the ethical, legal and social issues entwined within the development of the nanotechnology family.

Whither or Wither the European Union Savings Tax Directive? – A Case Study in the Political Economy of Taxation

One of the more contentious issues within the European Union (EU) in recent years has been how Member States should organise their taxation infrastructures. The European Union Savings Tax Directive (EUSTD) was one of a series of initiatives with an EU-wide focus on taxation since the issue of global taxation within the EU first was crystallised in a specific form by the European Commission (EC) in 1996. The struggles and disagreement that have plagued these various initiatives since 1996 raise interesting issues of legitimacy, equity and political economy of taxation that are the focus of this paper

Independence and Independent Company Directors

One of the standard regulatory reactions to troubling events in the corporate world—such as the collapse of one of Australias largest insurers, HIH, the Enron failure in the US, and the Polly Peck accounting scandal in the UK—has been regulation that mandates formally independent directors, and plenty of them. Yet some of the most recent initiatives paint a more mixed picture than usual. For example, in Australia the most recent changes to the ASX Corporate Governance Principles are focused on diversity. In the UK, the Walker Review suggested that expertise was the answer. This paper argues that there is a growing recognition that a reliance on formal independence, as it has been conceived in corporate governance regulation, is unsatisfactory. This paper deconstructs the concept of independence and uses these different understandings of independence to evaluate how the regulation of independent directors has evolved in recent years.

'Netting nano': Regulatory challenges of the Internet and nanotechnologies

The rapid progression of the Internet has impacted dramatically on contemporary society, transforming communications, business and trade. The global nature of the Internet has challenged traditional models of regulation. What has emerged is a new international framework, governed by an increasing number of actors and regulatory processes. By drawing upon the regulatory experience of the Internet, including an examination of the forces and dynamics that have shaped the regulatory framework, this paper considers the regulatory developments of another emerging and ubiquitous technology, nanotechnologies. It examines the rapid advancement and promise of nanotechnology-based products and processes, and the policy and regulatory challenges facing government, regulators, and industry alike. The paper argues that while the regulatory future for nanotechnologies appears to be uncertain, and highly contested, regulatory regimes will most likely reflect the commodities and services that the technology helps to produce. Anything other than this is unlikely because the ‘nanotechnology genie’ is already out of the bottle, and regulatory issues will evolve as the nature of the technology itself evolves.

Going Underground — The Not So New Way to Bank?

Some underground banking systems are very long-established traditions in certain jurisdictions and cultures. In some countries they pre-date western banking arrangements by centuries, so they are literally as old as the hills. Nevertheless, in many advanced economies underground banking systems have a low public profile. This low public profile stands in stark contrast to the increasingly high priority that governments, financial regulators and law enforcement agencies are giving to efforts to counter the facilitative role that underground banking can play in the activities of money launderers, organized crime and tax evaders. This paper discusses the traditions of underground banking systems and the contemporary challenges that they pose to law enforcement and other regulatory agencies