The Inland Revenue Department's new taxpayer's charter is just the first step toward making the Department more accountable for their treatment of taxpayers, National's Revenue spokesperson Annabel Young said today.

The IRD's new taxpayer's charter was released yesterday by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

"The charter is a move in the right direction but now they need to give it some clout. If the IRD don't have to report to Parliament, who will hold them accountable?

"The new charter is toothless. It will be easily ignored, just like the IRD's old charter, because it is voluntary," Ms Young said.

Annabel Young was the author of the Taxpayer's Charter Bill, which provided for the IRD to report to parliament on its compliance with the charter. Ms Young's member's bill was voted down by the Government at the end of last year.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>