Andrew Leigh

CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW TREASURER

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

COMMITTEE BACKS LABOR’S CALL FOR MORE TAX TRANSPARENCY, HUMILIATES SLOMO

The Senate report into multinational tax avoidance has backed Labor’s call to bring more firms out of the shadows and into the sunlight.

Labor already has a Private Senator’s Bill in Parliament to restore a key Labor Government transparency measure. We call on all parties to support this important bill.

In June 2013, the Gillard Government passed laws requiring that for all public and private firms with turnover above $100 million, the tax office should annually report their total income, taxable income and tax payable.

In 2015, the Coalition disgracefully raised the threshold for private companies to $200 million, taking two-thirds of private firms out of the disclosure process.

Labor voted against this measure, a vote that the Coalition untruthfully misrepresent as opposing the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law.

This dodgy deal took two-thirds of the private companies out of the spotlight and back into the darkness.

In another major embarrassment for Scott Morrison, Coalition Senators through this Senate report have endorsed taking the threshold for private companies back to $100 million.

The Senate report says:

The public's ability to scrutinise and question tax affairs is vital to build and maintain confidence and trust in the integrity of the tax system.

Australians want more tax transparency. Only Labor will deliver.

BACKGROUND

• The Gillard Government passed tax transparency reforms in June 2013.
• In October 2015, the Australian Parliament changed income tax transparency laws to remove the reporting requirements for Australian-owned private companies with total annual income of more than $100 million.
• In November 2015, the Greens and the Liberals raised the transparency threshold for private companies from $100 million to $200 million.

THURSDAY, 31 MAY 2018

Authorised by Noah Carroll, ALP, Canberra