Andrew Leigh

EVEN AFTER THE PANAMA PAPERS, MALCOLM TURNBULL IS SOFT ON TAX AVOIDANCE

Labor welcomes Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan’s involvement in helping a global effort to analyse data and launch prosecutions in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal.

The Australian Taxation Office is currently investigating 800 Australians identified in the Panama Papers. One in ten of those identified are on the Australian Crime Commission’s serious and organised crime database.

Whether it’s large companies operating throughout Australia being named, or an electrician in Perth emailing Mossack Fonseca to “reduce or zero my tax”, Australians begin to question the integrity and fairness of the tax system, and who it really benefits.

It is clear the Prime Minister and the Treasurer do not share these concerns.

Too busy shielding banks from the transparency and scrutiny of a Royal Commission, the Government has been nowhere to be seen on combating tax avoidance.

This means the Government remains soft on tax avoidance; hard on families and the schools and hospitals they rely on.

Labor implores the Government to join the fight against tax avoidance.

Parliament sits next week. If Malcolm Turnbull wanted to start doing something about tax avoidance, he’d adopt Labor’s package of measures that will raise $7.2 billion, and our Private Members Bill raising penalties for companies that fail to comply with Australian reporting laws.

WEDNESDAY, 13 APRIL 2016