in 1976, australia post refused to handle hutt river mail, forcing mail to be redirected via canada. following repeated demands by the australian taxation office (ato) for the payment of taxes, on 2 december 1977 the province officially declared war on australia. prince leonard notified authorities of the cessation of hostilities several days later. the mail service was restored and tax requests ceased. hutt river citizens are now classed by the ato as non-residents of australia for income tax purposes; thus income earned within the province is exempt from australian taxation. the province levies its own income tax of 0.5% on financial transactions by foreign companies registered in the province and personal accounts.