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The Challenge of Institutional Integrity in Responsive Regulation: Field Inspections by the Australian Taxation Office
Author(s) -
WALLER VIVIENNE
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9930.2007.00246.x
Subject(s) - compliance (psychology) , bureaucracy , agency (philosophy) , officer , unintended consequences , business , field (mathematics) , isolation (microbiology) , public relations , political science , law , sociology , politics , psychology , social psychology , social science , mathematics , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , pure mathematics
Based on responsive regulation, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Compliance Model was developed as a way of dealing with the complexities of the Australian tax system. This article demonstrates some of the challenges that come with introducing responsive regulation into a bureaucracy such as the ATO. Selznick's ideas of institutional integrity provide a conceptual framework that allows the regulatory agency engaged in responsive regulation to emphasize voluntary compliance and the building of positive relationships with the regulatee, while simultaneously ensuring that non‐compliance is both detected and dealt with. Using evidence from a qualitative study of ATO “walk‐ins” with used car dealers, the article demonstrates the unintended consequences that can occur without institutional integrity both at the level of design and at the level of everyday ATO field‐officer practices.