Evans, Chris --- "Unravelling the Mysteries of the Oracle: Using the Delphi Methodology to Inform the Personal Tax Reform Debate in Australia" [2007] eJlTaxR 5; (2007) 5(1) eJournal of Tax Research 105
[∗] Professor at Atax, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Email: cc.evans@unsw.edu.au
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[1] This paper is written and presented as part of an on-going Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage research grant for 2005 and 2006: Towards systemic reform of the Australian personal income tax: developing a sustainable model for the future. The financial support of the ARC and the partner organization – CPA Australia – is gratefully acknowledged. The author would also like to acknowledge the other project team members – Associate Professor Binh Tran-Nam (Atax, UNSW), Professor Brian Andrew (Atax Visiting Fellow and Charles Darwin University), Paul Drum and Garry Addison (CPA Australia) and Linh Vu (Atax, UNSW) – for their contributions to this paper and the project. Their input is appreciated; any mistakes are my own.
[2] A survey of over 3,000 individual (non-business) taxpayers was undertaken in November 2006 and a survey of over 1,000 tax practitioners dealing with the individual (non-business) taxpayers was conducted in January 2007.
[3] Dalkey, however, has claimed that he and Helmer were never entirely happy with the use of the term Delphi, arguing that the term implied “something oracular, something smacking a little of the occult” rather than a methodology designed to identify the best possible outcomes from less than perfect information (Dalkey, 1968, cited in Gunaydin, 2006).
[4] An acronym for Research and Development.
[5] Dedicated software packages for computer based surveys are also available (HERO, 2001).
[6] “Senior” was defined loosely as being of professorial rank or possessing a doctorate in the area.
[7] Those who declined the opportunity of participating generally cited lack of time or lack of current interest in the personal tax area as the reasons for not taking part.
[8] But perhaps the major factor was the enthusiasm, professionalism and diligence of the panel members themselves.