PerthNorg

No one loves the tax man ...

You don't like to kick a man when he's down, but it hasn't been a good start to the week for Treasurer Peter Costello.

Apparently, most of us and including his colleagues have told him they want Mr Howard to stay as leader and he's accepted our verdict despite what he may feel.

Then a report from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development criticised the Australian tax system as being too complex.

Many of us may feel we have been saying this for years.

The OECD reckons too many of us have been burdened with repsonsibility and stress of putting in a tax return every year.

It has proposed workers be allowed to claim a standard level of tax deductions each year, which would replace the costly workplace expenses and turn the tax system \"paperless\".

This would mean not all 11 million taxpayers would have to put in a tax return each year.

They had more to say about abolishing award wages among other things reported here in The Age.