The Brad book shows the trials and tribulations of Brad as he and others in his Tax Department's tax policy team advise and respond to requests from the Tax Minister on the taxation of investment income. In addition to Brad, the tax policy team includes Claudia, Brad's boss, and Sami, Brad's colleague.
Taxing investment income is all about taxing the income or commercial profit that comes from saving for future living rather than consuming after-tax wages now. Some might refer to this as "business income tax" but investment income ranges from people investing directly in bank accounts, rental properties or superannuation funds to people investing directly as sole traders or indirectly via, say, companies or trusts in local or foreign activities like, manufacturing, mining, agriculture, financing, and so on.
The Brad book brings all this complexity into simple focus as the tax policy team, or at least some in the team, seek to have their Tax Minister embrace positive change to the way investment income is taxed in their country.
The tax laws in Brad's country happen to be strikingly similar to those in Australia.
