Written Assessment
Worth 15%
Due Friday 10th October @ 5 pm
Henry told us in his guide to the Institutional Framework of Taxation in Australia that
the Australian Taxation System is one of the most complex in the world and is made
up of approximately 125 taxes including taxes such as Income Tax, Capital Gains
Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax and Goods and Services Tax just to name a few. He also
mentioned that there are many different organisations that play different and varied
roles within this system to ensure its integrity and all Australians are equally treated
with equity.
The Australian Taxation System is embedded in the way of life for all Australian
taxpayers, we pay tax on our income, we pay tax when we purchase goods and use
services, we pay tax when we sell assets and this is just to name a few.
It is important that you as a future tax professional understand how this system
impacts on yourself and those around you and this can be seen from paying
attention to media reports.
This assessment is in two parts –
Part One
You are required from week 1 to week 10 to review Australian newspapers such as
the West Australian, Financial Review, The Australian, Sunday Times and various
others for articles on Australian Tax. You need to find 20 articles which will be
handed in with your assignment. If you do not have access to Australian
Newspapers for examples you are an overseas student or have financial issues then
you may use the Factiva Database within the Curtin Library. A factsheet on how to
use this database in attached.
5 marks will be allocated for this task if you provide the 20 articles.
Part Two
After spending 10 weeks reading newspapers on the Australian Taxation System,
you should have started to develop your own view of the system and how the system
is used for different purposes.
For example many consider that it is used as a political tool by governments and
other political parties, that it is far too complex and the average Australian does not
fully understand their taxation obligations, that the organisations that are responsible
for administrating the system are overloaded already. Whilst others have a strong
view that the system is one of the best in the world and that its function is to raise
money for public goods and without tax we do not have a civilised society. These
are just a few observations and there are many more and if you speak to a number
of different people you will get very wide ranging opinions.
The requirements of the assignment for part two is to produce a 1000 to 1500 word
essay on your opinion of the Australian Taxation System which is based on your
findings from the Australian newspapers and any other research you may want to
undertake, please do not just provide a summary of the articles you have included in
Part 1
10 marks will be allocated for this task.
Essay Structure
Criteria for Marking Assignments
This gives you an idea of what we are looking for when marking the
assessments
Cover Page
Unit Title, assignment number, due date
Lecturers name, Student name and ID
Contact Address and Email Address
Structure
Introduction to assignment
Content of body (detailed)
Conclusion to assignment
Appropriate sentence structure
Correct grammar, spelling and punctuation
Appropriate use of language
Paragraph sizes appropriate
Font size readability
Appropriate line spacing
Appropriate headings and sub-headings
Pagination
Consistent format
Content
Evidence of appropriate reading on the areas required
Shows an understanding of the topics
Shows conceptual understanding of the issued involved in the assignment
Shows ability to analyse the issues involved in the assignment
Shows ability to convey to marker an understanding of the issues
Shows an understanding of the legal issues involved
Shows an ability to think broadly
Includes understanding of relevant legislation, rulings, etc
Includes all relevant documentation and attachments that is required within the
assignment to back up theory
Referencing
Refers to sections of legislation (where appropriate)
Refers to legal cases (where appropriate)
Uses correct method of citing legislation and cases
References appropriate and current
Uses references to identify sources of information and acknowledges such sources
Bibliography at the end indicating materials read/used
Assignment Submission Process
Please read the submission process carefully. Students should understand that
compliance with instructions in relation to an assessment task is critical. Students
MUST be aware that non-compliance with these instructions can result in a mark of
ZERO.
All assignments must be submitted by 5pm (western standard time) on the Friday of
the week the assignment is due.
Students will also be required to submit their assignment to Blackboard. The
assignment will automatically be submitted to the plagiarism detection programme,
Turnitin.
What is Turnitin?
Turnitin is an electronic text matching system that compares text in a student’s
assignment against electronic text on the Internet, in published works, on
commercial databases, and in assignments previously submitted to Turnitin by
students in universities all over the world, including assignments obtained from
'paper mills' (Internet sites which sell student papers).
Students and Turnitin
Turnitin is a fantastic resource to assist students with their referencing. Students are
given the option to submit a draft assignment into Turnitin (via Blackboard) to
retrieve an originality report of their assignment. The originality report is a tool to help
locate potential sources of unoriginal work in submitted documents by highlighting
similarities between the submitted text and the data in the Turinitin database.
Submitting a draft assignment and reviewing the originality reports provides students
with the opportunity to ensure their assignment is referenced appropriately, and to
make any necessary changes.
Please note that the similarity percentage that an originality report generates is not
a measure of plagiarism, provided students have referenced the relevant primary
sources which they obtained their information and ideas from correctly.
Submitting a draft assignment to view originality report
1. Log into the Taxation 231 Blackboard site. Open the ‘Assessment’ folder.
.
2. Click on the ‘Written Assessment: Revision 1’ link.
3.
i.
Complete the relevant information in the boxes provided.
ii.
Ensure the draft assignment complies with the Turnitin requirements.
iii. Locate the draft assignment through the ‘Browse’ option.
ix. Submit the draft assignment by clicking the ‘Upload’ button.
i.
ii.
iii.
ix.
4. Confirm the document you submitted is the correct document and click ‘Submit’.
5. Click ‘go to portfolio’.
6. Click the ‘similarity’ percentage or ‘View’ button to view the originality report.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Submitting assignment (final
version)
●
Follow the instructions provided above for submitting a draft assignment.
●
PLEASE NOTE: Students can only submit a final assignment once. Students must
take time and care when submitting their assignment.
Factiva Instructions
Using Factiva
Step 1.
Go to the Curtin Library page and select Databases A-Z
Curtin Home > Library > Find books and resources > Databases A-Z
Step 2.
Select Factiva
Step 3.
Once you are in the Database – set up your search.
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
Select your keywords in the Free Text Search (we recommend Tax* OR FBT
OR GST)
Select the Date (e.g. in the last day, in the last week, in the last 3 months)
Select your sources (e.g. The Australian, the West Australian, The Australian
Financial Review)
Select the area where you want to search for text (e.g. Full Article or
Headline and Lead paragraph)
Click search
Please note there is also a short video demonstration on the Blackboard on the use of Factiva