Andrew Leigh

KELLY O’DWYER: TAX CRUSADER??

It was Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer’s turn to try on the Liberals’ mask of concern about multinational tax today. Unfortunately, it was about as convincing as a pair of Groucho Glasses.            

Even the best Question Time pantomime won’t make Australians believe the Liberals really care about ensuring big multinationals pay their fair share of tax.    

That’s because their record speaks for itself.

The Liberals:

• Voted against every multinational tax reform Labor made in office.
• Cut 4,700 staff from the Australian Tax Office, including up to 1,000 staff from the Audit function.
• Teamed up with the Greens to water down tax transparency for firms earning over $100 million.
• Introduced an uncosted multinational tax bill which may or may not help stop companies sending profits offshore.

On the other hand, Labor:

• Gave the Australian Tax Office $109 million to crack down on corporate tax dodging; an investment which has returned over $500 million in revenue since 2013.
• Legislated two strong tranches of reform to thin capitalisation and transfer pricing rules in 2012 and 2013.
• Introduced the original tax transparency laws and fought to defend them to the last.
• Gave the Government’s untested bill the benefit of the doubt while calling for them to go further by also adopting our $7.2 billion package targeting loopholes.

The Liberals should just drop the act; it’s fooling no-one.

THURSDAY, 4 FEBRUARY 2016

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