1800 rising-from-the-ashes.
Phoenix activity in business is not a new concept and for
decades now, the government has been trying to combat. Recently, it
has bolstered its arsenal in implementing a host of the 2014
Productivity Commission's recommendations to defend lost
revenue arising from phoenix activity. The latest measure is a new
"Phoenix Hotline"—1800 807 875—where people
can report suspected phoenix behaviour directly to the Australian
Taxation Office (ATO), so it can pursue those wrongdoers.
Time will tell if these measures will work, given that since the
1970s, the successive governments have sought to stamp out
unscrupulous advisors promoting schemes to strip a company of its
assets for no consideration, leaving it unable to pay its taxes and
creditors and thereby sending it to the "bottom of the
harbour". The 1980 Costigan Commission, investigated these
so-called 'bottoms of the harbour' tax evasion schemes. A
leaked report of the Commission's
