Australian Mac users are up in arms over the fact that the software the Australian Tax Office (ATO) distributes to help users pay their taxes is not Mac compatible.

The ATO http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/32234.htm&pc=001/002/014/011/001&mnu=&mfp=&st=&cy=1 its e-tax program for free. Last financial year over 1.9 million individuals lodged their tax return using e-tax.

But the program is not Mac compatible, meaning the only way Mac users can use it is to purchase a Windows operating system and emulate it on their computers.

"It's an absolute rort that Mac users should be expected to purchase emulation software just to use a program that PC users have free access to," said one user from the popular MacTalk forums. "The ATO need to lift their game. This is ridiculous."

"The ATO have claimed that 2009 will be the year that eTax goes cross-platform," said another. "Being a public servant myself, I'll believe it when I see it."

e-tax runs on Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4, XP Service Pack 2 (32 bit) or Vista Service Pack 1 (32 bit).