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The number of complaints made to the ATO has jumped significantly, even before the widespread recent service outages, which could be caused by staff cuts according to the shadow assistant treasurer.
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ATO complaints rise as employee numbers fall
06 January 2017
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During the 2013-14 financial year the ATO received around 23,900 complaints, which was down 9.5 per cent on the year prior.
The most recent ATO annual report revealed that the number of complaints received by the ATO during 2015-16 was 34,323.
This represents a 43.6 per cent increase over two years.
Shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh believes that this increase directly correlates with the Abbott and Turnbull governments cutting jobs from the ATO, which began at the end of the 2013-14 financial year.
The government's answer to Labor's question on notice revealed that 3,347 employees have been axed from the Tax Office since July 2014.
“Job cuts at the Tax Office are making life harder for Australians who just want to pay their taxes and get on with their work,” a statement from Mr Leigh said.
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Mr Leigh said the 2015-16 statistics don’t include the presumably large number of complaints that would have been filed during the December 2016 ATO crash.
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