Journal of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A U S T R A L A S I A N TAX TEACHERS ASSOCIATION JOURNAL OF THE AUSTRALASIAN TAX TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 2016 Vol.11 No.1 Edited by DALE BOCCABELLA and ANN KAYIS-KUMAR The Journal of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association (‘JATTA’) is a double blind, peer reviewed journal. The Journal is normally published annually, subsequent to the Association’s annual conference. The Australasian Tax Teachers Association (‘ATTA’) is a non‐profit organisation established in 1987 with the goal of improving the standard of tax teaching in educational institutions across Australasia. Our members include tax academics, writers, and administrators from Australia and New Zealand. For more information about ATTA refer to our website (hosted by ATAX at the University of New South Wales) at www.asb.unsw.edu.au/schools/taxationandbusinesslaw/atta. Please direct your enquiries regarding the Journal to the Editor‐in‐Chief: Professor Dale Pinto Professor of Taxation Law School of Business Law and Taxation Curtin University GPO BOX U1987 Perth WA 6845 E: [email protected] Editorial Board of the Journal of Australasian Tax Teachers Association: Professor Dale Pinto, Curtin University, Perth, Australia (Editor‐in‐Chief) Professor Neil Brooks, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Canada Professor Margaret McKerchar, UNSW, Sydney, Australia Professor John Prebble, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ Professor Kerrie Sadiq Queensland University of Technology, Australia Professor Adrian Sawyer, University of Canterbury, NZ Professor Miranda Stewart, Australian National University, Australia Professor Natalie Stoianoff, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Associate Professor Andrew Smith, Victoria University, NZ Associate Professor Paul Kenny, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia ISSN: 1832–911X Volume 11 Number 1 published December 2016 Copyright © 2016 Australasian Tax Teachers Association Journal of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association 2016 Vol. 11 No. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD DALE BOCCABELLA AND ANN KAYIS‐KUMAR .................................................................................................................. iii SOME COMMENTS ON THE ROLE OF A REVIEWER (REFEREE) OF AN ARTICLE DALE BOCCABELLA ................................................................................................................................................................ iv THE EVOLUTION OF THE APPROACH OF THE NEW ZEALAND COURTS TO TAX AVOIDANCE THE HON JUSTICE WILLIAM YOUNG................................................................................................................................... 1 TAX AND TIME TRAVEL: LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD – A TAX ADMINISTRATOR’S PERSPECTIVE JAN FARRELL ........................................................................................................................................................................ 27 IS THE CITIZEN‐CONSUMER THE FUTURE TAXPAYER? JONATHAN BARRETT ........................................................................................................................................................... 57 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND TAX LITERACY: OPPORTUNITIES AND LESSONS FOR TAX TEACHING TONI CHARDON, CHRISANN LEE, LAURA DE ZWAAN, YULIN LIU ................................................................................ 85 EMERGENCE, GROWTH AND MOBILITY OF EUROPEAN COMPETENCE ON DIRECT TAX REGIME: AN ANALYTICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY REVIEW SHAFI U KHAN NIAZI .......................................................................................................................................................... 103 A REVIEW OF RESEARCH ON CORPORATE TAX AGGRESSIVENESS AND THE LEVERAGE PUZZLE H KHIEM (JONATHAN) NGUYEN ....................................................................................................................................... 139 i [This page is blank intentionally] Journal of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association 2016 Vol. 11 No. 1 FOREWORD The papers included in this edition of the Journal of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association (JATTA) were presented at the 28th Annual Conference of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association (ATTA). The ATTA conference was held from 20 to 22 January 2016 and hosted by the School of Taxation & Business Law, UNSW Business School. The theme of the conference was ‘Tax and Time Travel: Looking Backwards and Looking Forwards’. Many of the papers at the conference and in JATTA 2016 focused on this theme, but some also dealt with other important issues relating to tax policy, tax design and tax administration. We hope that the papers published here will make a significant contribution to the literature on the diverse range of topics they deal with. Plenary presentations and dinner speeches at the ATTA conference were given by Professor Diane Ring, Boston College Law School; Greg Smith, Chairman of the Commonwealth Grants Commission; Jan Farrell, former Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO); Andrew Mills, Second Commissioner of the ATO; The Honourable Justice William Young KNZM, Judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand; Ross Gittins, Economics Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald; and the Patron of ATTA, Professor Gordon Cooper. We would like to thank Editor‐in‐Chief, Professor Dale Pinto and ATTA President, Professor Adrian Sawyer for their guidance and support. Thank you also to all authors that submitted an article to JATTA 2016. We also thank the reviewers of articles for their contribution. We would especially like to thank two reviewers (who unfortunately must remain anonymous) for ‘coming to the rescue’ at short notice and providing invaluable feedback that contributed to JATTA 2016. Finally, a big thank you goes to Trischa Mann for her dedication to the copyediting task for JATTA 2016. She has now worked on JATTA since 2014. Dale Boccabella and Ann Kayis‐Kumar School of Taxation & Business Law, UNSW 15 December 2016 iii Journal of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association 2016 Vol. 11 No. 1 SOME COMMENTS ON THE ROLE OF A REVIEWER (REFEREE) OF AN ARTICLE Inspired by others, I briefly set out my thoughts or suggestions on how a reviewer (referee) could approach the task of reviewing an article for a peer‐reviewed tax journal – or any journal. These comments may help those who have not reviewed many articles, and it may help practitioner reviewers as well. The comments are also designed to get us, as a scholarly community, thinking about this issue and other issues related to the peer review process. The comments cannot be taken to be exhaustive.* The role of the reviewer is very important in the ‘machine’ that is the publication of peer‐ reviewed articles. To be asked to review an article by an editor is an honour. It usually reflects the attainment of some standing or knowledge in a disciplinary area, and is a concrete indication that the editor is putting some faith or trust in the person to assist with the editor’s all‐important question of ‘to publish’ or ‘not to publish’. Obviously, this is very important to the author of the article, but also the journal itself. From editors’ extensive knowledge, they will usually have a reasonable idea of the suitability of a particular person for a reviewing task. However, editors cannot always know how well equipped a potential reviewer is to review an article. Accordingly, it is incumbent on reviewers, when approached, to ask themselves whether they can effectively review an article. In this regard, I suggest to both a reviewer and editors, as part of the ‘sounding out process’, that the person approached to be a reviewer be given 4–6 days to ‘scan read’ the article, and from that reading, make a judgment as to whether he/she can effectively review the article. This process should give editors more confidence in the reviewer, and it can also allow for better planning for the journal. If the person approached cannot review the article, the editor can move onto another potential reviewer quickly, and not face the risk of discovering ‘an unsuitable reviewer’ 6–7 weeks later (when a first read may be made). All journals for which I have reviewed articles (mostly tax journals) work on the basis that the reviewer does not know who the author is, and the author does not know who the reviewer is; some call this double‐blind reviewing. When reading an article, reviewers may be tempted to give some thought to the identity of the author. For me, you must try very hard not to focus on author identification; your focus should be on the piece of work. If you are convinced you know who the author is, you have an obligation to let the editor know, so the editor can make a judgment about what to do. Presumably the editor will want to be convinced that you can approach the task in a strictly objective manner. (I once inadvertently established the author’s identity, but the editor decided to keep me on). On the decision to review or not, it is true that there is currently no direct financial reward for reviewing an article. And, from what I can gather, my university (and I suspect others in Australia) does not attach any particular significance to being a reviewer. That said, many institutions will consider reviewing as an important service item, and in New Zealand it would be valuable to include in a Performance‐Based Research Fund evidence portfolio. Accepting for a minute that low importance is attached to reviewing, you may ask, why should I bother? In short, it is a service to your discipline, and if every academic said