Andrew Leigh

MEDIA RELEASE

LABOR’S TAX INVESTMENT PAYING DIVIDENDS

Evidence at the Senate’s inquiry into multinational profit shifting shows Labor’s major investment in tax office compliance is getting results.

In the 2013-14 Budget, our government gave the Australian Tax Office $109 million to increase compliance checks on offshore marketing hubs and business restructures.

It is this compliance program which has led to BHP being handed a $522 million tax adjustment after an investigation by the tax office.

More audits of offshore marketing hubs are currently underway thanks to Labor's program. Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan has told the inquiry he expects to issue further tax adjustments worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Abbott Government likes to point to audits like these as evidence it is acting on multinational profit shifting. They're not fooling anyone. Every time Joe Hockey claims a win from tax integrity, he is taking credit for the hard work that Labor did in Government.

The Abbott Government's only real action on multinational tax has been to reopen loopholes worth $1.1 billion. Their pre-budget balloons about a 'Google tax' and other so-called integrity measures keep popping as quickly as they are released.

Labor’s plan to address multinational tax avoidance includes $67 million in additional resources to the tax office to rebuild its compliance capacity after the Abbott Government sent over 4,700 staff out the door.

And yet Tony Abbott has criticised this aspect of the plan, telling parliament:

 

“Now they seem to think that if you spend another $100 million on the ATO you can raise $1 billion….this is the kind of ouzo economics we have come to expect from members opposite.”

- Question Time, 2 March

Only Labor did the hard work in government of tackling multinational tax avoidance. And only Labor has a real plan to further tighten Australia's tax net so that big multinationals pay their fair share.

TUESDAY, 28 APRIL 2015

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