Latest news with #RobHeferen
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
ATO commissioner sent AI meme mocking Collingwood AFL supporters to all 20,000 staff
The commissioner of taxation sent an AI-generated action figurine meme depicting supporters of the Collingwood AFL football club as overweight, slovenly and with missing teeth to all 20,000 staff at the Australian Taxation Office, describing it as 'not a bad likeness'. The commissioner of taxation, Rob Heferen, sent the meme as part of a weekly email to all staff, referred to as 'Commish Connect', according to emails released under freedom of information rules law to the transparency website Right to Know. In the weekly dispatches, Heferen discussed taxation in general and the latest news for the agency, but also frequently discussed sport. In an email on 17 April, Heferen remarked on his weekend activities, stating: 'It started with watching a bit of Collingwood playing Sydney on Friday night. No need for any further comment.' But in the following week's missive, he thanked a supporter of the Parramatta Eels NRL team who sent him an AI-generated image of an action figure of a Collingwood fan. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email In the image, the figure is depicted wearing a Collingwood jersey with his stomach protruding beneath it, hair unkempt, with missing teeth and accessory tattoos. 'Not a bad likeness, I must say,' Heferen said in his email. Heferen himself is a Collingwood supporter, and discussed the team's results across several of the weekly emails. 'All I'll say is the AFL season is long, and it doesn't matter if your team loses its first game because everyone knows that the first round doesn't mean very much,' he said in one email after Collingwood lost the opening round to GWS Giants in March. The alleged stereotype of Collingwood supporters is not new. Former Guardian Australia journalist Antoun Issa wrote in 2023, in a piece about resurrecting the Collingwood Pride support group, that 'toothless' and 'feral' were the most common responses he received when he told people he supported the Magpies. 'The ubiquitous loathing of the Magpies, rooted in century-old tropes of the working class, persists despite neither the club nor its suburb today reflecting their humble origins,' Issa wrote. 'The club is among the richest in the league and the suburb's current affluence masks its slum beginnings.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Collingwood is currently top of the AFL ladder in the 2025 season. A spokesperson for the ATO said there had been one complaint to the commissioner, and one on an internal channel from the email. 'The commissioner's office received one piece of correspondence from an employee about the parody representation of a Collingwood fan (of which the commissioner is one himself), as part of a weekly email he sends to the approximately 20,000 ATO staff. Commissioner Heferen responded directly to the correspondence,' the spokesperson said. 'We also received an inquiry through an internal channel available to staff. This was responded to.' The AI-generated action figure meme was popular on social media around April, with people using image-generating AIs to pump out memes based on themselves or their favourite subjects. The email became public after an anonymous user known as 'Collingwood Fan' filed the request on Right To Know in April. It had not been previously reported publicly. That and a subsequent request for staff responses to the email are the only requests made under that account.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ATO's $11 billion warning for these Aussie taxpayers: ‘Moving harder and faster'
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is moving urgently to deploy its 'full powers' against taxpayers who owe it $11 billion in total debt. The tax office said its 'core role' was to collect the right amount of tax and it was 'moving harder and faster' to collect priority debt. ATO commissioner of taxation Rob Heferen said there were just 22,000 taxpayers who were responsible for $11 billion of total tax debt. These taxpayers are now firmly in the tax office's sight. 'In context, that's about 1 per cent of the total debtors responsible for 20 per cent of what's owed,' Heferen said in an address to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee. RELATED 'Massive' ATO change coming in weeks for 'struggling' Aussies: 'Doesn't seem fair' Aussie exposes frustrating $7,691 singles 'tax' hitting millions: 'It's tough' Retirement offer for Australians from idyllic island with no tax offers: 'Enjoy' 'To be clear, I'm not talking about just the largest taxpayers – this 1 per cent are taxpayers of varying sizes. And it is this group where our focus lies.' Heferan said it was taking a 'deliberate and targeted' approach to collect tax owed, with action taken for taxpayers who repeatedly refused to engage with the ATO and ignored its reminders.'For these taxpayers, we are moving more urgently to deploy the full powers available to us, including issuing Director Penalty Notices, taking garnishee action, and – if necessary – taking wind up action,' he said. 'We are beginning to see the effects of this work, through reduction in the amount of debt owed to the government.' Other priority debt being chased by the ATO includes unpaid superannuation guarantee, which is tax withheld from employees' pay but not passed on to the government, and GST collected from customers but not passed on to the government. The ATO is chasing around $50 billion in outstanding tax debts and has started ramping up its debt collection efforts after giving taxpayers some breathing room during the pandemic. While the ATO said it was focused on priority debt, Heferen noted that 'all tax owed to the government' was important. That includes tax owed by individuals and from small and large businesses. For individuals who lodged their tax returns themselves, any tax bills would have been due by November 21. If you lodged your tax return with a tax agent, you would have until March 21, 2025 to pay any tax owing. If you used the tax agent deferral program and won't lodge until May 15, 2025, the payment due date will be June 5, 2025. If you don't pay tax owed by the due date, the general interest charge will apply. This is currently 11.42 per cent as an annual rate. Heferen encouraged any taxpayers experiencing financial hardship to contact the ATO and they will work with you to find a way in to access your portfolio
