The ATO as an ATM

CROSS PURPOSES # 78

9 March 2007

The ATO as an ATM

I’m married to Rosemarie who brings many blessings into my life, not least of which is the fact that she’s a pretty expert specialist tax-preparer. There’s not much she doesn’t know about helping people with income tax returns. I marvel at her efficiency, her knowledge, and her people skills. Above all, I marvel at her honesty and courage in holding clients to the line of what is, and what is not, acceptable according to the Tax Law in the eyes of the Tax Office.

I don’t ever have to worry about getting my tax return done on time – it’s done for me! Wasn’t always like that. For probably the first fifteen or so years of our marriage I completed the tax returns. (There had to be some pay-off for a Bachelor of Commerce I never used!).

I often fudged the figures. Claimed expenses I had no business claiming, didn’t show income that should have been included. It was normal. As far as I knew, everybody did it. You got away with whatever you could. Bothered the conscience for a while each year but it passed. Always breathed a sigh of relief when the assessment was returned, with cheque, without being contested. Needless to say, economical with the truth.

Over the years the Lord above had to use a baseball bat on me a few times to drive me toward integrity. In the end, clarity with him became so important that un-clarity elsewhere – compromises in honesty – had to go. I’m free and I’m grateful.

You can understand then that I was taken by a comment I heard at Men’s Breakfast recently: “Some of my friends treat the ATO as an ATM!” Really struck a chord. And instantly had me thinking again of our journeys toward integrity. And I mean journeys. I’m sure some will say that they’ve always been honest as the day is long. Never been like that for me, nor for most (honest) people I know. Decisions are made day by day, week by week, year by year, and not always on the side of truth.

But things change. It’s not only about “complying with the Law”, or about “living with yourself”, or “preserving your reputation”. Lasting change came to me, and for me, as “I looked into the eyes of Jesus and saw the person I was meant to be!” (Zaccheus in The Robe). When that happened to me, the drive to get it right came from the inside. The drive to get it right was matched by a longing to get it right. Love begets love which begets truth. A clean heart (ie forgiven!) drives a clean life. When that happens the ATO is where I make legitimately required deposits and claims, and the heavenly Boss provides the ATM.

What about Reparation?
Yes, what about reparation? What about making good what one did, (equals obtained dishonestly), in the past? I’ve worked out my own ways to respond to that need, essentially by the way I handle giving away things / money when that’s required.

I’ve never rung the Tax Office and asked how I could repay what is owed. I know someone who did and he was told there was no protocol for it. He did his own calculation and sent off his cheque! He also had a rethink about all the sickies he took before his moment of truth and asked his earthly boss about setting that right. Again there was no mechanism for it, so he did a calculation and worked extra overtime for a couple of years to clean the slate!

There is a joy in being honest. And a freedom. There’s a greater joy and a great freedom in being able to be honest.

Take care

Fred