[plug] OT - GST (from ADUG - Delphi UG)

[Shackleton, Kevin]

For those who charge for their services . .

>  Extract from New Scientist, 12 August 2000, page 64
> 
>  WE RECENTLY reported that Australians are so confused about the country?s
> new
>  goods and services tax (GST) that the Australian Tax Office has had to
> set up a
>  helpline to answer their queries (22 July).   For those who are still
> confused,
>  reader Alistair Pike points out that they can try reading the actual GST
> Act,
>  where all will become clear.
> 
>  Or will it?   Here is a sample from chapter 4, part 4, subdivision 165 of
> the
>  Act
> 
> 
>  "For the purposes of making a declaration under this Subdivision, the
>  Commissioner may: (a) treat a particular event that actually happened as
> not
>  having happened; and (b) treat a particular event that did not actually
> happen
>  as having happened and, if appropriate, treat the event as: (i) having
> happened
>  at a particular time; and (ii) having involved particular action by a
> particular
>  entity; and (c) treat a particular event that actually happened as: (i)
> having
>  happened at a time different from the time it actually happened; or (ii)
> having
>  involved particular action by a particular entity (whether or not the
> event  actually involved any action by that entity)."
> 
> 
>  Perhaps, on reflection, the GST helpline need only carry a simple
> repeated
>  message: "No worries, mate, we?re making the rules up as we go along."
>