Why not outlawed in 2002??
ACA warns on banks’ fine print
18/07/2002
http://www.infochoice.com.au/home-loans/news/aca-warns-on-banks-fine-print/20550/2/16
Banks and finance companies are inserting unfair conditions into their contracts, according to the Australian Consumers' Association submission to the Trade Practices Act review.
The practice shifts the risk unfairly onto the consumer, the Association claims.
In its submission, the ACA accuses several companies of placing unfair conditions on the purchaser of goods and services, and names St George Bank, the Commonwealth Bank, GE Capital Finance and Colonial State Bank, amongst others.
If Colonial State Bank mortgage holders don't pay their Colonial credit cards on time, for example, the loan contract states that the borrower is in default on his or her mortgage loan.
And banks and other lending institutions often have clauses in their contracts stating that they may change the loan conditions at any time.
The ACA said that there is no specific blanket law to stop companies from inserting these sorts of conditions into their contracts, and it has called for the Trade Practices Act to be changed to outlaw such practices.
Why did regulators not stop this in 2002?
Foreign tax havens popular
30/07/2002
http://www.infochoice.com.au/investment/investment-broker/news/foreign-tax-havens-popular/20613/2/16
Foreign tax havens are being aggressively marketed by agents and promoters as the best way to avoid paying tax in Australia, and they are fast replacing mass-marketed schemes as the leading tax-avoidance method.
The Tax Commissioner, Michael Carmody, said yesterday that 50,000 people have been fined an average $700 in the latest crackdown on business, but the real challenge is to catch those avoiding tax through overseas havens.
In addition to channelling money into offshore accounts, people are claiming deductions for marketing and management administration fees relating to these tax haven entities.
Mr Carmody said that despite the apparent end of mass-marketed schemes, such as those in forest plantation operations, aggressive tax planning is still alive and well.
He added that "revenue is not a dirty word" and warned that tax avoidance undermines the funding of essential community services.