The high cost of a guilty conscience
Until he actually found himself being audited, Outsider always believed that if he was going to have a problem, it might as well be a tax problem.
Outsider does not have a guilty conscience because he has never earned enough to have any real concerns about what the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) might find in his affairs, but he is sensitive to the fact that his penchant for long lunches and single malt whiskey is bound to attract unwanted attention.
But not everyone is without sin and can endure the burden on their conscience, which probably explains revelations made during Senate Estimates last week.
According to tax officials appearing before the Senate Economics Committee, some conscience-plagued person recently sent the ATO’s offices in Albury a plain brown envelope containing $62,000 in cash with a note stating: “this is yours”.
After hearing this evidence, Outsider has been contemplating what sort of person would seek to salve their conscience while remaining anonymous, and has concluded that it was more likely to have been a financial adviser than an accountant.
Why? Because all accountants know that $62,000 donated to a charity will both salve your conscience and attract a tax deduction.
AUTHOR
The Outsider
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