Tax Ruling Offers Reith Room To Cut Phone Debt
Sun Herald
Sunday October 15, 2000
AUSTRALIA'S top accountants have called on the Taxation Commissioner to rule whether Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith can claim his $50,000 Telecard bill as a tax deduction.
The National Tax and Accountants' Association president Ray Regan said his office believed Australia's 10 million taxpayers could end up paying half the notorious phone bill.
The Institute of Charted Accountants also claimed that a ``significant part" of the bill could be a claimed as an expense.
Mr Reith's spokesman would make no comment on the matter last night.
But Opposition Leader Kim Beazley called for an urgent decision on whether the tax deduction, available only to politicians, could be used by the minister.
Such a move would refuel the controversy, which has seriously dented Mr Reith's promotion prospects and even led to calls for his dismissal.
On Friday he finally agreed to pay the bill by taking out a bank loan costing $400 a month for the next 20 years.
Commonwealth Solicitor-General David Bennett cleared him yesterday of any civil or legal obligation to pay for the calls made without his knowledge.
After hearing the advice from Mr Bennett, Mr Reith said: ``It's a huge relief to me and my family. My hope is that the public will finally have a chance to understand the facts."
Mr Reith said his son Paul, now a 27-year-old merchant banker in London, had made only $950 worth of calls using the card since he was handed the number in 1994.
Since then, it is claimed, unknown people made 11,000 calls around the world to build up the $50,000 bill.
Yesterday Mr Regan said his nine-strong team of taxation lawyers and experts believed Mr Reith could claim almost $25,000 as an expense directly related to discharging his parliamentary duties.
Mr Regan said his team spent the past two days analysing a recent Australian Taxation Office ruling on Federal politicians' claims.
A spokesman for Mr Beazley said Mr Reith should immediately rule out using tax deductions on his telephone bill.
© 2000 Sun Herald