In 1999, the Australian Tax Authority introduced software
which
people could use to file their tax returns via the Internet. This was
only a trial. I heard about it through employees of the tax office
and decided to try it out. At that time, I was using Windows as my
primary operating system.
The e-tax form proved much easier to fill and submit
than the paper
forms. I received my returns in around 10 days. there was only one
version of the software - for Windows. I sent in some feedback,
suggesting that once this became an alternative, versions for other
operating systems should be made available as well.
Next year, the same thing happened. I again sent in
feedback,
suggesting that the software be ported to other operating systems.
In 2001, the tax forms, which are normally sent to
every household,
were not sent to me. e-tax was announced as an alternative and those
who had
been using it since its trial were not sent these forms. there was
still just one version of the software - for Windows. Additionally, it
was
difficult to use any other browser than Internet Explorer to download
the software. It was beginning to look like a Microsoft show.
I decided to write to the Tax Commissioner about
this. My letter is given below:
Samuel Varghese
Michael Carmody
Dear Mr Carmody I have been a user of the e-tax software right from
1999 when it was advertised as a trial run. Both that year and in 2000,
I found it much easier than the paper version and also much faster in
terms of obtaining my returns. In the year 2000, I suggested that when
it did become mainstream (as it did in 2001), that versions be provided
for other operating systems as well. There are sufficient Macintosh and
Linux users in this country to warrant versions for these operating
systems being offered.
However, if versions are not offered, it amounts to discrimination
which this country, officially at least, does not support. If a single
parking lot in this country does not have a slot for the handicapped,
that amounts to discrimination. Yet the taxation authority of the
country can blithely provide software that prevents hundreds of home
computer users from filing their tax returns online and not earn
censure.
Are you suggesting that every computer user in the country uses the
Windows operating system? Let me be the first to disabuse you of this
notion. There are thousands of Macintosh users who do not have Windows
emulators on their systems; there are thousands of Linux users as well.
How do they avail of this facility?
I tested the software thoroughly and it seems that the whole operation
is skewed to operate properly with Microsoft products. There were
problems when one tried to use any other browser apart from Internet
Explorer to download the software, no matter that the other browsers
have 128-bit encryption built in. I trust you have heard of the British
government's creation of a gateway that was built on the same model -
it had to be redone.
The e-tax system means less pain for the user and much less work for
the taxation authority. That much is plain. Why then were people locked
out from using it in 2001? Are you saying (without really putting it
into words) that everybody should have gone out and bought another
computer with the Windows operating system in order that they could
file their tax returns? Is there some marketing arrangement with the
makers of this operating system that people are not told about?
And one other little thing - we have just come through a year when
worms like Code Red and Nimda wreaked havoc on servers which run
Internet Information Server. Was it perhaps a trifle foolhardy to ask
people to file their returns to a server which runs precisely this
software?
Your thoughts on these matters would be greatly appreciated.
Very sincerely yours,
Samuel Varghese
cc:
Nathan Cochrane, Deputy Editor, Next, The Age, Melbourne I received the following reply from the tax office. Note the
legalese at the beginning: **********************************************************************
IMPORTANT
Dear Mr Varghese,
Thank you for your e-mail of 5 February 2002 addressed to the
Commissioner
of Taxation, giving positive feedback on your experience in using e-tax
and
expressing your concerns regarding the availability of e-tax for Apple
Macintosh users. The Commissioner has asked me to respond to your
e-mail.
When e-tax was first developed in 1997, available information indicated
the
number of Apple Macintosh users in the community was low relative to
IBM-compatible personal computers utilising the Windows operating
system.
Accordingly, to ensure maximum uptake, e-tax was designed and built to
run
on IBM-compatible personal computers utilising the Windows operating
system.
As the usage of e-tax has increased, the ATO has consulted with Apple
Macintosh about releasing a cross-platform version of e-tax. Last year,
arrangements were made with Apple Macintosh to have their technical
staff
test the e-tax software to determine if it would run on the Apple
Macintosh
operating system. As you are aware, the outcome was that an Apple
Macintosh
computer, with suitable Windows Emulator software installed, may allow
the
e-tax software to run.
A survey was also conducted towards the end of 2001 by the Apple Users'
Society of Melbourne (AUSOM) - Australia's Leading Apple Macintosh User
Group, in conjunction with the ATO. The survey's aim was to determine
the
level of interest in using e-tax. An article referring to the survey
was
forwarded to other Macintosh user groups, as well as being placed in
various
print media. The response rate did not indicate a high level of
interest,
with only 891 Apple users requesting the facility be made available.
This
is in contrast to the 280,013 individuals who lodged their tax return
using
e-tax in 2001 and the 2.3 million individuals who prepare their own tax
returns.
When e-tax was first developed in 1997, available information indicated
the
number of Apple Macintosh users in the community was low relative to
IBM-compatible personal computers utilising the Windows operating
system.
Accordingly, to ensure maximum uptake, e-tax was designed and built to
run
on IBM-compatible personal computers utilising the Windows operating
system.
As the usage of e-tax has increased, the ATO has consulted with Apple
Macintosh about releasing a cross-platform version of e-tax. Last year,
arrangements were made with Apple Macintosh to have their technical
staff
test the e-tax software to determine if it would run on the Apple
Macintosh
operating system. As you are aware, the outcome was that an Apple
Macintosh
computer, with suitable Windows Emulator software installed, may allow
the
e-tax software to run.
A survey was also conducted towards the end of 2001 by the Apple Users'
Society of Melbourne (AUSOM) - Australia's Leading Apple Macintosh User
Group, in conjunction with the ATO. The survey's aim was to determine
the
level of interest in using e-tax. An article referring to the survey
was
forwarded to other Macintosh user groups, as well as being placed in
various
print media. The response rate did not indicate a high level of
interest,
with only 891 Apple users requesting the facility be made available.
This
is in contrast to the 280,013 individuals who lodged their tax return
using
e-tax in 2001 and the 2.3 million individuals who prepare their own tax
returns. Nevertheless, the ATO would still be
pleased to be able to support e-tax for
Macintosh users in the future. To this end we will continue to explore
the
options available for development of a cross-platform version of e-tax,
in
conjunction with Apple Macintosh.
Unfortunately it is not possible to give you a definite date as to when
this
might occur, as it is a relatively complicated and costly task and is
dependent upon a number of factors, including cost benefit.
Regrettably,
at this stage, it would appear that a version of e-tax which is
suitable for
Macintosh users will not be available in time for tax time 2002.
Yours sincerely,
Nicki Haisman
On Thu, Feb 21, 2002 at
01:54:34PM +1100, Haisman, Nicki
wrote:
> Dear Mr Varghese,
Please go back and read my letter again. I referred to both LINUX and
MACINTOSH users.
I thought people at the ATO read documents carefully before answering
them.
Given your designation, also learn how to respond to email - your reply
comes AFTER the letter, not before it.
You also knock off the old letter unless you plan to reply point by
point in which case, you intersperse your answers with the points made.
Is the ATO going to put out a version for Linux and
the Mac this year
or
not?
Sam
--
Sam Varghese I
received this reply:
Dear Mr Varghese,
regards,
Nicki Haisman
Director,
Electronic Initiatives (Personal Tax) I often wonder why people like this are
put in charge of initiatives
about which they have no idea.
I decided to write to the tax commissioner again. Dear Mr Carmody
I have received the following letter from one of your staff, in reply
to
my letter of January 5, 2002. I have replied to it point by point - the
portions bearing a > are from your staffer, the ones without are
my
reply.
Firstly, the person who has replied has not read the letter properly.
If she/he
cared to do so, he/she would have realised that it is asking for e-tax
software for two platforms - Linux and the Mac OS. After a further
letter from me, the person concerned re-read the letter and realised
that he/she had missed something.
> From: Nicki Haisman
>
> Dear Mr Varghese,
>
It is illustrative that no mention has been made of the negative
aspects
of the e-tax initiative which I had mentioned. These included the fact
that it seems designed to download properly with one browser, Internet
Explorer, and the fact that returns have to be lodged to a server
running software that has a history of security problems. This is a
common attitude among public servants - ignore the problem and hope
that
it will go away.
I have not made any complaint about the software being developed for
Windows during the trial period. I have, however, complained and quite
rightly too about there being e-tax software only for Windows after it
became a mainstream option in 2001.
There is nothing new about this. It is merely repeating what was stated
in my letter. > A survey was also conducted
towards the end of 2001 by the Apple
I think there is a serious lack of understanding on the part of the
person who wrote this. If software had been made available for both the
Linux and Macintosh operating systems, do you think that people who use
these operating systems would not have used the software? Was any
survey
done to find out how many Windows users would use the software before
it was
supplied?
e-tax is a right, not a privilege. An individual living in the farthest
reaches of Australia has the facility of voting. In the same manner,
every taxpayer has the right to have access to all the means available
for filing tax returns, more so when it makes it easier for both the
individual and the tax office.
Are we supposed to be grateful for this? You are using public money for
this, not some private individual's cash.
Porting software to the Mac or to Linux is not a complicated task -
provided it is given to the right people. There is no question of cost
benefit involved - every taxpayer has a right to have access to e-tax.
A country like Australia has individuals like Jamie Cameron (who
created Webmin) Andrew Tridgell (the man behind Samba), Keith Owens (one of the top
people in the Linux project), Russell Coker and Craig Sanders (members
of the Debian Linux development team), and hundreds of other lesser
known but still talented programmers. Yet the ATO cannot find people
within the country to port software for use on different operating
systems.
I am disappointed at the response. I thought someone who knew something
about e-tax would reply. Instead, we have a PR hack trying to fob off
someone who is perceived as an unnecessary irritant in the system.
I await your response.
Sincerely,
Samuel Varghese
NB: This letter bears no signature as it is electronically generated. I spoke to a gentleman from the Human
Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission of Victoria
about the possibility of filing a discrimination claim against the
taxation authority.
While he was sympathetic to the cause, his hands are
tied; his reply in
part explains it:
Having said this though, I still think that it might be
worthwhile
getting onto the ACCC and discussing whether the ATO's actions
could
in any way contravene competition laws. I don't know where else you
could go, unless there is a federal body that regulates
telecommunications and the delivery of such services that may
perhaps
look into the issues.
The tax office's response to my
previous letter is given below. It is strangely predictable: Raelene Vivian
Samuel Varghese
Dear Mr Varghese
The Commissioner has asked me to respond to your
email of 3rd March 2002. At this point of time the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
will not be extending the development of etax for usage by McIntosh and
Linux users (apart from where Windows Emulator software has been
installed).
I certainly appreciate you raising the issue and
supporting the portability of McIntosh and Linux users to access etax.
We are considering how we can enhance the etax product to deal with
this issue in the future.
However as advised in previous correspondence, we
will not have this functionality available for 30 June 2002 (etax
2002).
If I can be of further assistance please do not
hesitate to contact me
Yours sincerely
Raelene Vivian
NB: This letter bears no signature as it is
computer generated
I took some time off
from the campaign due to personal
reasons. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was my next
stop. The letter to the commissioner is given below:
15 August 2002
I am writing to bring to your attention the manner in which
the Australian Taxation Office denies a portion of the Australian
population access to a facility of national significance. I refer to
the ATO's e-tax facility.
In 1999, the ATO introduced software which people
could use to file their tax returns via the Internet. This was only a
trial. In 2001, this became a mainstream option as people who had been
using the software for the previous two years did not receive copies of
the tax booklet at their homes. I was among those who have used the
service right from 1999.
The ATO has chosen to offer software which will
function only with the Windows operating system, which is sold by a
company that has been convicted of monopolistic practices - Microsoft
Corporation. And the process of filing one's returns online appears to
work smoothly only when one is using a browser made by Microsoft
Corporation.
Right from 1999, the users of other operating
systems like the Macintosh and Linux have been asking the ATO for
software which will enable them to also use the e-tax facility. These
pleas have fallen on deaf or bureaucratic ears and they are still
locked out of using it. Macintosh users can use it if they have
software for emulating the Windows environment - and this costs a good
deal of money.
I wrote to the Tax Commissioner, Michael Carmody,
earlier this year about this issue. My correspondence and the replies
from the ATO are available at this web address:
http://www.gnubies.com/tax/index.html
In effect, the ATO is asking every member of the
Australian public who wishes to use the e-tax facility - which should
be accessible to all as it is paid for by all taxpayers - to go out and
buy a copy of the operating system sold by Microsoft Corporation. And
by not bothering to provide software for those who cannot afford to buy
a copy of Windows, the ATO is denying third parties access to
facilities of national significance.
It is far easier to use the e-tax system than the
tax booklet. It saves work for the ATO and it means quicker returns for
the user. Should the ATO's subsidising of a monopoly be allowed to
stand in the way of the public benefitting from something, the
development of which
is paid for with tax-payers' money?
If the subsidising of Microsoft Corporation ended
here, it would be bad enough. But the ATO does not stop here. The
public are asked to file their tax returns by e-tax to a server which
runs software again sold by Microsoft. This software has an atrocious
security record. The software that runs the web server, Internet
Information Server, or IIS as it is known, has a long history of
security problems and several worms like Code Red and Nimda have
wreaked havoc in the past and are still around.
A search of Microsoft's own security database for
vulnerabilities in IIS is revealing - this URL will speak for itself.
So bad is its security record, that the
internationally respected IT consulting group, Gartner, recommended
that users look for an alternative - see this link.
In fact, Microsoft has so little confidence in its
own products that it uses other security products within its own
organisation - this story is just one example.
Should the confidentiality of your tax information
and mine be placed in jeopardy when the ATO can just as easily turn to
more secure and much cheaper alternatives?
This is not the only example of the shoddy way in
which the ATO has handled electronic service delivery. It has also
neglected to ensure that similar sounding domain names are registered
and directed to point to the official ATO site, with the result that
businesses have been able to register sites like ato.com.au and create
confusion among the public. This story should provide adequate
details.
With every good wish,
Sincerely,
(Samuel Varghese)
The reply from the ACCC
is given below. This issue seems to be
an orphan child: nobody wants to admit responsibility.
29 August 2002
Complaint about the Australian Taxation Office ("ATO") E-tax
software
Thank you for your letter of 15 August expressing
your concern over the
software used by the ATO for its e-tax facility. You allege that the
software the ATO has chosen to offer, which is sold by the Microsoft
Corporation, is only compatible with Windows operating systems and can
not be used by users of other operating systems such as Macintosh and
Linux. In addition, you allege the Microsoft software is not secure and
the confidential information provided by taxpayers is being placed at
risk. You also allege that the ATO has failed to register similar
sounding domain names, such as www.ato.com.au, and this creates
confusion amongst members of the public. As you are probably aware, the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission ("the Commission") is a Federal body that
administers the Trade Practices Act 1974 ("the Act"). The Act contains
a range of provisions designed to promote competition, protect
consumers and prevent corporations from engaging in restrictive trade
practices. Section 2A of the Act extends the jurisdiction of the Act to
the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth authority that is carrying on a
business. However, in assessing whether or not the Commonwealth is
carrying on a business regard must be had to section 2C of the Act. Section 2C(1)(a) of the Act relevantly states:
"(1) For the purposes of section 2A and 2B, the
following do not amount to carrying on a business: Given the above it is unlikely that the ATO could be
characterised as carrying on a business. Accordingly, after
consideration of the information you have provided to the Commission it
does not appear that the ATO's conduct, as described by you, would
amount to a breach of the act. In relation to your allegation relating
to the failure of the ATO to register similar sounding domain names,
such as www.ato.com.au, I note this particular website does contain a
disclaimer to the effect it is not affiliated with the Australian
Taxation Office or any state revenue or taxing agency. You may wish to raise your concerns with the Federal
Treasurer, The Hon Mr. Peter Costello MP. The Federal Treasurer has
responsibility for a range of matters including taxation.
Correspondents to the Federal Treasurer should be sent to:
Room MG47 Thankyou for raising this matter with the Commission. Yours sincerely, Joanne Pickering Investigator
Linux
in the public domain:
a fight for rights
18 Botanic Drive
Doncaster
Victoria 3108
5 January 2002
Commissioner
Australian Taxation Authority
Constitution Avenue
Canberra
Australian Capital Territory
I am one of a group of people who wrote to the taxation authority in
2001, highlighting the fact that an e-tax facility, if made available
for general use, should be open for use by all residents of this
country who need to file their returns. Sadly, it looks like the
taxation department has chosen to ignore these suggestions and impose
its own idea of e-tax on the general public.
NB: This letter bears no signature as it is computer-generated.
Des Devlin, SMH Online Site Producer, Sydney
The Editor, linuxtoday.com.au
The Editor, LinuxToday.com
Nicholas Petreley, Editor, varlinux.org
The Editor, theregister.co.uk
The Editor, PC Authority, Sydney
The Editor, APC Magazine, Sydney
If I
had hoped for some support from the media which claim to be
supporters of Linux, I was disappointed. The Age of Melbourne was the
only paper to show some support and carried my letter in full.
The information transmitted is for the use of the
intended recipient only
and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged
material. Any
review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or
taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by
persons or
entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited and
may result in
severe penalties. If you have received this
e-mail in error please notify
the Privacy Hotline of the
Australian Taxation Office, telephone
132869 and delete all copies of this transmission together
with
any attachments.
**********************************************************************
From: Nicki Haisman
Director,
Electronic Initiatives (Personal Tax)
PO
Box 9990
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Director
Electronic Initiatives (Personal Tax)
nicki.haisman@ato.gov.au
My
reply was brief and to the point:
>
> Thank you for your e-mail of 5 February 2002
addressed to the
> Commissioner
> of Taxation, giving positive feedback on your
experience in using
> e-tax and
> expressing your concerns regarding the availability
of e-tax for Apple
> Macintosh users. The Commissioner has asked me to
respond to your
> e-mail.
http://www.gnubies.com
Linux and all free software is not about the smell of money but the
improvement of community
Please accept my apologies for not referring to Linux in my
previous
e-mail to you. Unfortunately, the situation for Linux is the same as
for
Macintosh. This is that regrettably, at this stage, a version of e-tax
which is suitable for Macintosh or Linux users will not be available in
time for tax time 2002. As mentioned in my previous reply, it is not
possible to
give you a definite date as to when this might occur, as it is a
relatively
complicated and costly task and is dependent upon a number of factors,
including cost benefit. However this is not to indicate that the ATO
will
not be undertaking any action to make e-tax available on other
platforms.
In fact, the ATO will continue to explore its options for e-tax
platforms
in future years with a view to making e-tax readily available where
ever
possible.
> Director,
> Electronic Initiatives (Personal Tax)
> PO Box 9990
> CANBERRA ACT 2601
>
>
> Thank you for your e-mail of 5 February 2002 addressed to the
> Commissioner
> of Taxation, giving positive feedback on your
experience in using
> e-tax and
> expressing your concerns regarding the availability
of e-tax for Apple
> Macintosh users. The Commissioner has asked me to
respond to your
> e-mail. /p>
> When e-tax was first developed in 1997, available
information
> indicated the
> number of Apple Macintosh users in the community was
low relative to
> IBM-compatible personal computers utilising the
Windows operating
> system.
> Accordingly, to ensure maximum uptake, e-tax was
designed and built to
> run
> on IBM-compatible personal computers utilising the
Windows operating
> system.
> As the usage of e-tax has increased, the ATO has
consulted with Apple
> Macintosh about releasing a cross-platform version
of e-tax. Last
> year,
> arrangements were made with Apple Macintosh to have
their technical
> staff
> test the e-tax software to determine if it would run
on the Apple
> Macintosh
> operating system. As you are aware, the outcome was
that an Apple
> Macintosh
> computer, with suitable Windows Emulator software
installed, may allow
> the
> e-tax software to run.
> Users'
> Society of Melbourne (AUSOM) - Australia's Leading
Apple Macintosh
> User
> A survey was also conducted towards the end of 2001
by the Apple
> Users'
> Society of Melbourne (AUSOM) - Australia's Leading
Apple Macintosh
> User
> Group, in conjunction with the ATO. The survey's aim
was to determine
> the
> level of interest in using e-tax. An article
referring to the survey
> was
> forwarded to other Macintosh user groups, as well as
being placed in
> various
> print media. The response rate did not indicate a
high level of
> interest,
> with only 891 Apple users requesting the facility be
made available.
> This
> is in contrast to the 280,013 individuals who lodged
their tax return
> using
> e-tax in 2001 and the 2.3 million individuals who
prepare their own
> tax
> returns.
> Nevertheless, the ATO would still be pleased to be
able to support
> e-tax for
> Macintosh users in the future. To this end we will
continue to
> explore the
> options available for development of a
cross-platform version of
> e-tax, in
> conjunction with Apple Macintosh.
> Unfortunately it is not possible to give you a
definite date as to
> when this
> might occur, as it is a relatively complicated and
costly task and is
> dependent upon a number of factors, including cost
benefit.
> Regrettably,
> at this stage, it would appear that a version of
e-tax which is
> suitable for
> Macintosh users will not be available in time for
tax time 2002.
>
>
> Yours sincerely,
I've taken a look at your url, and, I must say, I agree with the
points you make. Not everyone does or wants to use Windows, or
Internet Exploiter (sorry Explorer). Unfortunately, however, it isn't
a situation that the Equal Opportunity Commission can look at, given
that there is no connection to the proscribed attributes (race, sex,
religion, impairment, etc).
Australian Taxation Office
2 Constitution Ave
Civic
ACT 2601
18 Botanic Drive
Doncaster
Victoria 3108
19 March 2002
Assistant Commissioner (Personal Tax)
Australian Taxation Office
Ph 02 62796735
email : raelene.vivian@ato.gov.au
Professor Allan Fels
Chairman
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Level 7, Angel Place
123 Pitt Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
Mr Samuel Varghese
18 Botanic Drive
Doncaster VIC 3108
Dear Mr Varghese,
(a)
imposing or collecting:
(i) taxes; or
(ii) levies; or
(iii)
fees for licences;"
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600
Telephone: (02) 6277 7340
Facsimile: (02) 6273 3420
What can you do? Write
to the tax commissioner - Michael Carmody
politely expressing your opinion. Else write to Nicki Haisman,
director, electronic initiatives (personal tax) or Raelene Vivian,
Assistant Commissioner (Personal Tax) and express what you feel. Or
write to the Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello. His official address is
given above.
Last
updated: September 7, 2002