Ivor Richardson

Directions for Tax Administration: Two Recent Reports

The effectiveness of the tax system is crucial to the funding of government. The tax administration is given exceptional powers to enable it to enforce tax laws and thus achieve revenue outcomes acceptable to government. The performance of the tax administration affects the efficiency of the national economy. But though it is crucial to the functioning of government and the economy and though it raises major questions as to the application of public law values, tax administration has not been a major field of study for lawyers. However, that may be changing and, co-incidentally, substantial governmental reviews of tax administration in Australia and New Zealand have recently been published.! For ease of reference they will be referred to as the Australian Report and the New Zealand Report respectively.

Incidents of the Government-Servant Relationship

This paper focuses on the Government-Servant relationship in the United States. First, the article distinguishes between officers and employees. Then, incidents of this relationship in relation to officers, employees and military servants are explored. These are: the right to a salary, rights during a period of suspension after charges have been laid against a civil servant, rights to a pension, leave with or without pay, promotion and the right to resign.

Problems in the Removal of Federal Civil Servants

This paper considers different aspects of the removal of civil servants by the Federal Government. It discusses the governments power to remove civil servants both at common law and under statute, the procedural remedies available to a government worker ousted from office, the loyalty program, and the effect of an invocation by the civil servant of the privilege against self-incrimination.