TIME FOR TURNBULL TO STEP UP ON TAX HAVENS

Almost 20 multinational companies are under investigation by the Australian Tax Office the latest tax avoidance scandal unveiled by international reporters today.

 

Until the Government commits to a comprehensive Tax Haven Transparency package - as Labor has - the public is going to rely on Paradise Papers style leaks to expose the murky use of tax havens.

 

But the Turnbull Government is more likely devoting their energy to a scare campaign about public information about who uses these tax havens and how much tax they pay.

 

Malcolm Turnbull’s team won’t commit to making companies that are bidding for government contracts state where they pay tax - so the public knows where their money really goes - and they won’t commit to rewards for whistleblowers who do the right thing.

 

These were two of the measures Labor has already publicly backed as part of its plan for a fair tax system, announced six months ago.

 

It includes:

 

·         Making companies state to shareholders if they do business in a tax haven

·         Creating a registry showing who really owns Australian companies and trusts

·         Publicising in which countries big companies pay tax, and how much

·         Introducing whistleblower protection and rewards

·         Making companies disclose their country of tax domicile when tendering for      government contracts

·         Developing guidelines for tax haven investment by superannuation funds

·         Public reporting of Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) data

·         Requiring the Australian Taxation Office disclosure of settlements and reporting of aggressive tax minimization

·         Restoring Labor’s $100m threshold for public reporting of tax data for private companies

 

It’s time Malcolm Turnbull stood up for ordinary Australians instead of tax dodging multinationals.