But it says Australia is following a revenue raising practice largely unchanged from the 1950s – relying on income taxes, both personal and corporate – in essence, ignoring both the impact of globalisation, and the profound economic transformation of the past half century.
Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, announced plans on Friday to introduce legislation next week to better regulate embedded giving, the fast-growing fund-raising practice that involves building a gift to charity into everyday purchases.
Mr. Barak's campaign fund-raising practices are also under investigation.
Another, John C. Liu, the comptroller, has been weakened by a federal investigation into his fund-raising practices.
In October, an investigation by The New York Times highlighted irregularities in Mr. Liu's fund-raising practices.
He was in that post when the Federal Bureau of Investigation began looking into Mr. Torricelli's fund-raising practices.
Many thought he would be ridiculed because of the questions surrounding his own fund-raising practices in 1996.
Mr. Gore found himself again confronted by questions over whether the Justice Department would investigate his fund-raising practices.
Mr. Liu was not charged, but federal investigators depicted his campaign as condoning, if not orchestrating, questionable fund-raising practices.
For his part, Mr. Liu said he was grateful for the support and defended his campaign fund-raising practices.
