Legal advice sought on tax data
Wellington reporter The Government has sought legal advice on whether it can reveal confidential tax information to other Government departments to help stop welfare benefit fraud, the Minister of Social Welfare, Dr Cullen, said yesterday. “If a favourable legal opinion is obtained, it is intended to undertake a substantial survey to evaluate the usefulness of tax file data to the Department of Social Welfare in detecting benefit frauds,” he said.
Further work is also going into possibly establishing an identification number system common to all Government depart-
ments. “The potential benefits of such a system will have to be weighed against issues relating to the privacy of information and the costs associated with the system’s establishment and maintenance,” said Dr Cullen. On another front, systems for passing information from the Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages and from Customs to the Department of Social Welfare is continuing. Trials will also be made on accessing information from the Accident Compensation Corporation. A similar trial involving the Immigration Department is being considered, he said.
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Press, 19 April 1989, Page 8
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178Legal advice sought on tax data Press, 19 April 1989, Page 8
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