The readability of Australia’s goods and services tax legislation: an empirical investigation

Grant Richardson*, David Smith

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Australian taxation law has been criticised for many years for its difficulty to read and understand. The Tax Law Improvement Project (TLIP) was established in December 1993 to rewrite in plain language Australia's income tax legislation. The primary purpose of this study is to test empirically the effectiveness of attempts at simplifying the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 as amended. The study utilises empirical measures in analysing the level of readability of Australia's taxation laws. In doing so, it builds on earlier research, which applied similar methods in examining the New Zealand taxation simplification process. It was found that the sections of Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 sampled were slightly more readable than corresponding sections of Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 as amended, which is consistent with Wallschutzky's (1995) findings. Nevertheless, the results fall well short of acceptable bench-marks, suggesting that the goal of simplification has not been achieved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)321-349
Number of pages29
JournalFederal Law Review
Volume30
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 2002
Externally publishedYes

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