MANY farmers would argue the thousands of naive lawyers, miners and small business owners who poured money into managed investment schemes deserve little sympathy.

But it's not just the investors who are losing money in MIS projects - it's every Australian tax payer.

We should all remember investors avoid paying 40-45 cents in tax on every dollar they invest in MIS projects.

These investors have chosen to hand their tax debt to Timbercorp, Great Southern and other MIS companies, rather than share in the cost of paying for the nation's schools, roads and health system.

The greed of many investors has been so great they have borrowed 90 per cent of the MIS project costs to avoid paying tax on 40-45 cents in the dollar they invest.

Unfortunately many failed to realise they were still pouring 55-60 cents of each dollar borrowed into schemes that would create an on-going liability many would struggle to meet.

There is no clear exit strategy for many of these investors,  who keep on receiving invoices for on-going management fees and rent. The only choice for some investors is bankruptcy.

Farmers must wonder why MIS investors poured so much of their own and taxpayers money into these schemes, without gaining ownership of land or water.

For tax payers the big question is why was the Australian Taxation Office willing to make product rulings that allowed MIS companies to charge investors grossly inflated establishment and management fees?

The tax office failed to ensure the tax-payer subsidised fees MIS companies imposed on investors reflected commercial reality.

The Weekly Times asked the tax office in the past why it allowed MIS companies to charge more than $9000 a hectare to establish blue gum plantations, when it cost the non-MIS sector $3000/ha.

The tax office gave no clear answer, despite Australian tax payers covering a huge proportion of these establishment and management costs.

MIS companies can't lose out on the deals they've brokered with investors. The company owns the land, the water and ultimately the trees if the investor defaults on payment.

However the MIS companies are getting jitterish about defaults on repayments.

It may be that in the end the global financial crisis may do more to reform the MIS sector that any Federal Government reforms.

In the meantime lets hope the Greens, independents and radical Nationals such as Barnaby Joyce push through tax amendments that ensure the excesses of the past decade don't arise again.