Andrew Leigh

LIBERALS YET TO DELIVER A CENT ON MULTINATIONAL TAX AVOIDANCE

The Australian Tax Office today confirmed that none of the $4 billion clawed back from multinational tax dodgers over the past financial year could be attributed to Liberal laws – despite their attempts to claim otherwise.

In Senate Estimates, my colleague Chris Ketter asked the tax office’s International Deputy Commissioner Mark Konza:

Chris Ketter: In terms of the $4 billion that you announced was raised on the 23rd of August for the last financial year, just interested in knowing how much is directly attributable to MAAL [the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law]

Mark Konza: The answer is nil. The MAAL only came in in 2016. The $4 billion concerned audits that went back as far as 2008.

This shows that Scott Morrison and Kelly O’Dwyer have been telling blatant untruths when they have claimed that it was their policy responsible for cracking down on multinational tax dodging. 

We already know that Labor’s laws – that the Liberals voted against in 2012 – were applied in these cases. For example, this year’s $340 million judgment against Chevron was based on laws that Labor passed and the Liberals opposed.

Earlier this year, Mr Morrison and Ms O’Dwyer boasted:

“The Government’s coordinated plan to tackle profit shifting and avoidance of Australian tax law will keep paying dividends.”

Thanks to the tax office, we now know it hasn’t delivered a cent. If the Liberals had their way on multinational tax dodging, the budget would be billions of dollars worse off.

WEDNESDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2017