Strategy Refresh

What good is it to have a destination if you don’t know how to get there?  With this truism in mind, Let’s Fix the Tax Treaty! has long formally documented out strategy and action plans and made this document available to our membership at fixthetaxtreaty.org for public reference, comments and feedback.[1]

However, this plan, last updated in 2018, badly needed an update.  Importantly, we wanted to refresh and update our 2021 action plans and objectives / scorecard.  So in the 2nd half of 2020 we launched a Strategy Refocus exercise, running a number of Focus Groups from our membership to get feedback and input on our strategy, priorities and action plans.

We’ve taken this input on board and refreshed our Strategy Roadmap document, including 2021 objectives and action plans. 

Our Strategy Roadmap serves a number of important purposes, as it documents

  • The taxation challenges we face
  • Our purpose
  • How our group is structured and governed
  • The strategy framework, including
    • what needs to change (note there is a useful comprehensive table in this section listing all known tax treaty issues),
    •  advocacy priorities, and
    • who needs to implement these changes (targets) or might assist (influencers)
  • Key messaging themes for those seeking change
  • Our annual objectives (scorecard) and actions plans

Despite the considerable FTT group growth (our Facebook group is nearly 1300 members now!) and the growing realisation and interest in our huge taxation challenges, only a small team of volunteers on the Steering Committee (Karen Alpert, Christine Burk Roberts and Carl Greenstreet) currently drive these activities forward.  By necessity, we have to be realistic as to the scale of our advocacy activities. 

In 2021, we hope to be more outward in our advocacy efforts and we are planning two campaigns that will require wide support by our membership if they are to be successful.

  1. FATCA Post-Implementation Review (PIR) rebuttal campaign (February launch)
  2. Superannuation / investment portability campaign (2nd Half, 2021)

We will be detailing these further in due course but, for now, there is further information in the Strategy Document.

I encourage all members to take the time to read this important document as it may help you comprehensively understand the taxation challenges we face as well as how we might go about affecting positive change.  Feedback is extremely welcome and please consider getting involved as a volunteer!


[1] Blog References:  Plan to Succeed (Oct 2016), Strategy Roadmap (Dec 2016), Strategy Document Feedback (Jan 2017) and Plan to Succeed (Part II) – Strategy Roadmap & Action Plan (Jul 2017)