Andrew Leigh

ABBOTT GOVERNMENT RUNNING INTERFERENCE FOR AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST FIRMS

The Abbott Government has finally come clean and admitted it is working to gut Labor’s tax transparency laws simply to keep big companies out of the spotlight.  

Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says he is worried about unleashing ‘the politics of envy’ if the Australian Tax Office releases data about companies earning over $100 million.

What he actually means is that Australians might be envious of how little tax some of these firms really pay.

Labor put the current rules in place to allow for an open and informed public discussion about how companies are contributing to our common wealth.

Australians are rightly concerned that some big firms aren’t paying their fair share and are gaining a competitive advantage over smaller business in the process.  

When media reports surface about the questionable tax affairs of big firms, the Government is always quick to criticise these as inaccurate or misinformed.

Now they have the opportunity to put the real figures into the public domain by publishing information about the income and tax paid by major firms. Instead, they’re hard at work to keep these facts secret.   

It is clear that the Abbott Government’s doesn’t care about ensuring everyone contributes fairly to funding Australia’s schools, hospitals and roads.

Their only priority is to shield big companies from legitimate scrutiny and keep Australians in the dark about the unfairness in our tax system.

Perhaps that is also why the Government has overseen the sacking of over 1100 compliance staff from the Australian Tax Office in the past year alone, including 270 from the specific section that investigates private companies.  

Labor will not join the Government in putting the interests of a few huge companies ahead of the Australian community.

We will fight this effort to roll back the existing tax transparency laws because we believe big and small companies alike must pay their fair share.   

TUESDAY, 16 JUNE 2015

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