ATO Fudging the Numbers to Make Their Performance Look Better? Surely Not
It turns out the ATO have been fudging numbers and selectively reporting on their performance. Wow! Someone report them to the Tax Office!
Oh, wait a minute.
The Australian Tax Office is determined to reduce average call wait times, and publicly reports on its progress.
In 2021-22, the ATO met its performance target of general inbound callers waiting less than 10 minutes on average to speak to someone. Yay.
But in 2022-23, that wait time blew out to 10 minutes and 49 seconds. Whoa!
Lowering Standards
What did they do?
They revised the “performance target” to “less than 15 minutes”.
You have to love that. If you don’t meet your target, set a new, easier one and when you meet it, celebrate as if you made actual progress. Presumably, senior executives get a bonus to boot.
Kill me now!
But it’s not enough to continually set new, easier-to-meet targets and call that customer service. No, no… the ATO are even tricker than that. (They clearly have a very good accountant)
In order to keep wait times low, the ATO actively hang up on callers — one in four, as it turns out.
Figures published in The Age show that 26 per cent of callers to the Tax Office are connected, only to have their calls immediately rejected. And without the option of joining the queue or agreeing to a callback.
More than 1 million calls to the ATO have been rejected already this financial year.
Calculated
And here’s the kicker. The ATO acknowledged it was hanging up on people so as to make the average wait on other calls appear more reasonable.
Remember, this is in addition to already lowering their performance target for 2023-24.
In a statement published yesterday, the ATO admitted that 26 per cent of general inbound calls had been “blocked” this year as a “demand management tool”.
Those blocked calls were not factored into the average wait times.
The ATO said:
“Call blocking is used reservedly and intermittently to maintain client wait times at acceptable levels that ensures all calls in queue could be answered by the end of each day.”
You couldn’t make this stuff up.
Anyway, it gave me an idea…
Any chance I can defer reporting 26 per cent of my income in order to maintain the amount of tax I pay at an acceptable level?
Asking for a friend.
___
Originally published at The James Macpherson Report.
Subscribe to his Substack here for daily witty commentary.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio.
One Comment
Leave A Comment
Recent Articles:
16 July 2026
5 MINS
We're told that progressive politics equals compassion, inclusion and kindness. But shocking reactions to Ann Widdecombe's murder — celebrating her death and hoping she died in extreme pain — reveal the socialist left's blatant 'hate speech' hypocrisy and disturbing double standards of the highest degree.
16 July 2026
3.6 MINS
Jason Clare’s “vanilla” attack on One Nation's immigration policy dissolved under scrutiny, leaving only fruit salad and spin.
16 July 2026
4.7 MINS
As Democratic Socialists consolidate power at every level of government, House Speaker Mike Johnson is sounding the urgent alarm: these candidates don't want to reform America — they want a revolution to "tear it down to its foundations and create a communist utopia. This is serious stuff."
16 July 2026
3.8 MINS
Artificial intelligence is not merely forcing Christians to answer new ethical questions. AI is forcing the church to revisit much older theological ones: what it means to bear God’s image and which responsibilities can never be delegated to a machine.
16 July 2026
4.8 MINS
The Covid lockdowns may not have been remotely effective, but at least they harmed millions of people and created long-lasting negative impacts that we’re still dealing with today. That’s the conclusion of a massive new body of research.
15 July 2026
3.9 MINS
UK authorities are treating the murder of devout Christian and former British MP Ann Widdecombe as domestic terrorism.
15 July 2026
4.4 MINS
In an age when our Prime Minister openly jokes about 'shagging' and candidly discusses his marital sex life, we might think the question of modesty is settled. It's not. In fact, it's never been more urgent.
Crazy , logic straight out of ” Alice in Wonderland “. Fudging performance figures by the ATO is nothing new as a former Insider (me who was dubbed “The Enemy Within”—I successfully sued in 1984 my employer , the ATO ) can attest. I was too honest for the Public Service. Time that the person ( s ) responsible for this policy are made accountable/ punished by an official Enquiry. Heads at the top should roll, but, Australia is now too corrupt to reform. It is a DISGRACE to treat taxpayers with such contempt . Overpaid Public Servants .