Exploring innovations in tax administration: a Foucauldian perspective on the history of the Australian Taxation Office's compliance model

At the turn of the century, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) adopted the cooperative compliance model (CCM). This was regarded as a paradigm shift in tax administration and therefore a historically significant event, although its history has received little attention to date. Previous research has discussed the role of administrative equity and administrative efficiency in its history. This article reconsiders those themes in the light the theoretical work of Michel Foucault and further sources. Such an analysis focuses attention on the ATO's realisation that a more strategic use of its power could achieve greater long-term compliance. It also focuses attention on the ATO's realisation that the observation of taxpayers alone can improve compliance. These conclusions have implications regarding the use of probability of detection, risk assessment and data gathering procedures to improve compliance which are discussed. Also discussed are implications for serious noncompliance.