AceBreakingNews – UPDATE – The Commonwealth will have a green light to enter the water market and buy irrigation water from farmers to boost the environment, with the Albanese government securing the numbers to re-write the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Nov.29: 2023: ABC News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has been seeking to extend the 2012 Murray-Darling Basin Plan – which sets out how water in Australia’s largest river system is shared — allowing more time and new infrastructure projects to allocate water to the environment.

The updated legislation would remove a cap on the amount of water the Commonwealth can purchase from farmers to meet environmental water savings targets.

The buybacks would be voluntary, with willing irrigators invited to sell their water to the Commonwealth.

The amount of water sought to be purchased by the Commonwealth would be determined by the success of the infrastructure projects and would likely add a cost of billions to the already $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Independent ACT senator David Pocock announced his support for the legislation at Parliament House on Wednesday morning after the government agreed to provide a $50 million package of measures for the upper Murrumbidgee River.

“For decades, and we’ve seen the decline of the upper Murrumbidgee, so part of my ask for supporting an update (to the Basin Plan) was that the government look after the Murrumbidgee. And they’ve come to the table,” Senator Pocock said.

He said the package included a $30 million contingency reserve to be drawn on in times of drought, $20 million to improve the health of the upper Murrumbidgee and $500,000 to support First Nations to participate in water releases from the High Country.

That $30 million drought figure is yet to be allocated by the federal government. 

Senator Pocock joined Independent Victorian senator David Van and the Greens to provide the votes for the government to pass the legislation in the Senate, with a vote on the bill likely before the end of the week.Loading…

As Ms Plibersek sought the essential support of the crossbench, she suggested Commonwealth land purchases could also be completed to meet the environmental commitments of the Basin Plan.

“We want to do on-farm efficiency measures, off-farm efficiency measures, we are looking at land and water purchases. We are looking at a whole range of things to make sure that we deliver [the] Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full,” Ms Plibersek told ABC’s 7:30.

On Tuesday, Senator Van announced his support for the deal, after the government agreed that irrigators could lease water to the Commonwealth to contribute to the water-saving targets.

Senator Van said the option for farmers to lease back water would “remove some of the damaging impacts of water buybacks”.

By losing that in perpetuity part that goes with a buyback, farmers are more likely to want to lease their water back to the Commonwealth Holder of Environmental Water and it gives them flexibility in their business.

That leasing term might be 12 months, it could be 5 years it could be 30 years,” Senator Van said in his first media conference since moving to the crossbench

In June, Senator Lidia Thorpe accused the then Liberal in parliament that he had sexually assaulted her, a claim he strongly denied.

In return for Senator Van’s support, the government has also committed to provide an annual socio-economic report on the impact of the new Basin Plan to the federal parliament each year.

Earlier in the week, the Greens won amendments that would guarantee the return of 450 gigalitres of water each year to the environment by December 2027, and acknowledge the connection of First Nations to water within the legislation.

The Greens amendments have also secured $100 million for First Nations to participate in the water market.

Despite more than 2,100 gigalitres of water a year being allocated to the environment since the Murray-Darling Basin Plan was legislated in 2012, a shortfall of around 750 gigalitres a year remains.

The federal opposition, farmer groups and some regional councils have opposed the use of water buybacks, which they argue harm communities.

When water is bought back by the Commonwealth for the environment, it reduces the amount of water available for farming.

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AceBreakingNews – UPDATE – The tax office has stopped sending letters warning of sometimes decades-old tax debts, acknowledging the letters were causing “unnecessary distress “ More than 200 thousand letters were sent over 12 months.

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Nov.29: 2023: ABC Business News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) says it was running an awareness campaign about “on-hold” tax debts, which are not required to be immediately paid, but will be taken from future tax refunds and credits.

Some tax agents say they have received letters on behalf of clients relating to debts raised more than 20 years ago, and have questioned if it is fair to pursue matters from so long ago.

And others have compared the letters to the much-criticised “robodebt” campaign, where Services Australia sent letters to welfare recipients pursuing often incorrectly-generated debts.

The tax office said it has verified that all of the debts exist, and that those with the debts have been notified about them before.

But in a statement, it said it will “pause” the campaign and review whether the letters are the best way of notifying taxpayers about the debts.

“We accept that our communication approach caused unnecessary distress – especially for those debts incurred several years ago,” it said.

“We will review our overall approach to debts on hold before progressing any further.

“No further action is required by anyone who has received a letter.”

What are ‘on-hold’ debts?

“On-hold” debts are often very small, and can date back several years.

The tax office makes a decision not to pursue repayment of the debt, usually because they’re not “economical” — that is, it would cost more to chase down the debt, than the value of the debt itself.

But, critically, the debt is not waived — it just sits on the tax office books indefinitely.

If a person carrying an “on-hold” debt eventually lodges a tax return and is eligible for a refund, the ATO can claim back the debt from that refund.

The ATO’s letter-writing campaign was aimed at anyone with an on-hold debt, even if they were unlikely to need to be repaid anytime soon.

Anne Kayis Kumar from UNSW’s Tax and Business Advisory Clinic said while it’s understandable that the ATO wanted to remind people of the debts, it’s also clear how people became confused and alarmed.

“I think it was well intended,” she said.

“But the the message that was conveyed, didn’t quite land in the way that I imagined the ATO was hoping it would.”

She said pausing the letters was the right move, and the campaign might have been better directed at people who actually faced having to repay the debts through a looming tax return.

“If those letters were being sent out to people where the debt was being realised, it would make a lot more sense to really put it front and centre of the taxpayer’s mind,” she said.

Dr Kayis Kumar said the ATO’s policy of applying interest to on-hold debts can mean people are often presented with frighteningly large figures.

But she suggests those amounts can be reduced, as the tax office has a practice of often waiving penalties and interest on request, once debts begin being repaid.

Greens criticise ATO campaign, drawing robodebt comparisons

The Greens have been sharply critical of the ATO’s campaign, questioning the merits of pursuing the debts at all.

Senator Nick McKim said there are other areas the tax office — and federal government — could be focusing its attention.

“Targeting individuals for questionable debts that are many years old is punitive and deeply unfair, and has echoes of Robodebt about it.

“It’s even more egregious given one in three major corporations pays no tax at all.

“Labor should focus on cracking down on corporate tax evasion rather than trying to intimidate people into paying money that they may not even owe.”

Some tax agents have questioned the fairness of pursuing debts that may be decades old, given many people won’t have financial records that old.

Dr Kayis Kumar said that might be something worth considering, in the wake of the now-paused letter writing campaign.

“There are definitely lessons to be learned from this,” she said.

“Where the debt is so old that the taxpayer doesn’t have the records of it, whether it reasonable or ethical to pursue something where archival records are no longer available is definitely a consideration.”

And she said there are broader options for the government to pursue, like simply waiving the debts altogether in situations of financial hardship — which is not an option currently available to the ATO.

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones was contacted for comment, but a spokesperson directed questions to the ATO.

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