Promoting Taxpayer’s Rights Worldwide
Benjamin Franklin said that there were only two things certain in life: death and taxes. Taxation is an important aspect of life for people, especially for me because I am a certified public accountant. For citizens in many parts of the world, the concept of taxpayer’s rights is still relatively new, and their governments lack respect for such rights. I will compare how the governments in two places—California and Taiwan—treat their taxpayers to illustrate the importance of taxpayer’s rights.
In 2017, to better serve the residents of California, the government of California, after an investigation, made a decision to shut down the state’s Board of Equalization and form two separate entities—the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the Office of Tax Appeals—because of the board’s serious problems of mismanagement and misallocation of sales taxes. The Office of Tax Appeals will begin its function on January 1, 2018, conducting appeals on taxes and fees, such as franchise and personal income tax appeals, sales and use taxes, and other special taxes and fees. The appeals will be heard by a panel of three administrative law judges. This office is an independent body. This news sends a very powerful message to the people that the government is willing to shut down a 138-year-old board to protect its taxpayers’ rights, setting a very good example, not only for the U.S., but also for the rest of the world.
By contrast, the taxation bureau of Taiwan, a country from across the Pacific Ocean, has been abusing its taxpayers for decades. In 1996, Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau illegally started an investigation on the Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy and its grandmaster Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze. During the investigation prosecutor Kuan-Ren Ho wanted to build a case to gain fame and further his career so that he committed violations that he could possibly be accused of just to bring a case against Dr. Hong. He even brought two charges—fraud and tax evasion—against Dr. Hong for the same gifts given by Dr. Hong’s disciples. In fact, these two charges contradicted each other because money received by fraud should be confiscated and returned to its rightful owners and should not be taxed. If taxed, that would make the government the accomplice. Although ridiculous, the contradicting charges were heard in court. In 2007, after over 10 years of trials, the third instance of court acquitted Dr. Hong of the charges and determined that the gifts were neither fraudulent nor taxable income. However, based on the prosecutor’s indictment, in 1997 Taiwan’s tax authorities issued unlawful tax bills to Dr. Hong before the court made a decision. Even after the court decided that the gifts were indeed tax-exempt income, the tax bureau has continued to impose unlawful taxes for the gifts on Dr. Hong to this day; many scholars, legal and accounting professionals, and legislators have been criticizing the tax bureau’s violations of law in this case. Because of this case, more people in Taiwan have become aware of the significance of taxpayer’s rights and started to fight for such rights.
I shared these two cases with mixed feelings. I live in California, and the government has shown efforts in helping its people. I was born in Taiwan, and the Taiwan government is still bullying its people. Today the advancement of technologies has made information transparent, transcending national boundaries, so governments should no longer treat their citizens as ignorant people. We should not wait for our rights to be granted to us; we should fight for our rights and against injustice. I hope with our efforts there will be less suffering and more harmony and growth in every country.
Source: World People News staff report
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