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.

AUSTRALIANS WANT TAX FAIRNESS

Community members at last night’s Fairer Tax System Forum in Ingle Farm, SA, were unequivocal about the need for a fairer tax system.

Speaking at the forum, Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh and Member for Makin Tony Zappia warned of the risk to South Australians from the Abbott-Turnbull Government’s budget priorities.

So far, the Government remains soft on tax avoidance; hard on families and the schools and hospitals they rely on.

The growing sense of anger and frustration in the community is palpable, as the views expressed at the forum confirm.

Attendees noted the Prime Minister’s deafening silence on the Panama Papers, which have revealed the shocking lengths some companies and high net worth individuals will go to in order to avoid paying their fair share of tax.

OF MULTINATIONAL AGREEMENTS, BILATERAL DEALS, AND LOBSTERS, Australian Financial Review, 7 April

Growing up, one of my favourite television shows was Minder. Its lead character, dodgy salesman Arthur Daley, lived by the philosophy ‘You make contact with your customer. Understand their needs. And then flog them something they could well do without.’ Daley sold water-damaged umbrellas, dodgy cars, fake watches, and one-legged chickens (‘they're easier to catch’). He spent his life chasing ‘nice little earners’, and lived by the saying ‘the world is your lobster’.

I hadn’t thought much about Minder until I watched the Abbott-Turnbull Government claiming that its trade policy was the best in Australian history. As an economist, I’m a strong supporter of scrapping quotas and lowering tariffs. Alas, the Liberals measure success not in terms of cutting tariffs, but signing deals.

Just as anyone can sell a car in five minutes, anyone can sign a bilateral trade deal. The question isn’t whether the Trade Minister can get the handshake, it’s whether the agreement is in our national interest. And this is where things start to get murky.

When it comes to lowering trade barriers, economists agree that it’s better to strike worldwide agreements. As the Productivity Commission noted last year, ‘Well-founded unilateral reform based on most favoured nation and national treatment principles can afford larger and timelier economic gains than achievable through preferential deals.’

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA

WEDNESDAY, 6 APRIL 2016

SUBJECT/S: Land tax; ABCC; Company tax rates.

TOM CONNELL: In an area you are very familiar with as an economist. Land tax, increasing that, broadening that and putting it on the family home these sort of different issues to raise more money in getting rid of stamp duty. A lot of economists say it is efficient, it's a good idea it will boost the economy ultimately without collecting more revenue, your thoughts?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Tom I've made exactly that argument on this program before. Stamp duty is essentially a tax on mobility. Indeed I've done academic work in the past showing that higher stamp duty impedes mobility and reduces the amount of transactions that we see in the market. Land tax isn't politically popular but it's far more economically efficient. 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC 774 MELBOURNE

TUESDAY, 5 APRIL 2016

SUBJECT/S: Multinational tax avoidance; Labor’s positive plans for the economy; Latest newspoll.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer in Bill Shorten's Cabinet so he is the assistant to the Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen and he'd be responsible for economic and fiscal policy should Labor win the next election. Andrew Leigh good afternoon.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good afternoon Raf, how are you?

EPSTEIN: Would you do anything differently especially around this offshore tax havens?

LEIGH: Look absolutely we would, Raf. The first thing to say is that while we were in Government we put in place a multi-billion dollar package cracking down on multinational tax avoidance and unprecedented tax transparency laws. In 2013 the Liberals voted against both of those. We are now calling on the Liberals to adopt Labor's multinational tax plan that delivers $7 billion over the course of the next decade by closing loopholes. They’re refusing to do that.

TURNBULL’S DEAFENING SILENCE ON TAX AVOIDANCE  

Last night’s ABC report The Panama Papers has yet again left Australians wondering if and when the Government will get serious about tackling tax avoidance.

Yesterday morning, it was reported the ATO is investigating more than 800 high net worth Australian individuals.

Last night, more details about the legal twists, turns and loopholes multinational companies and individuals use to avoid tax have emerged.

Several large companies operating in Australia are alleged to use the services of the firm at the centre of the leak that broke the story.

Not one Coalition MP appeared on the program. Not even to rhetorically condemn tax avoidance. 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CAPRICORNIA

MONDAY, 4 APRIL 2016

SUBJECT/S: North Queensland Taskforce; Labor’s positive plans for the economy; saving Medicare

JACQUIE MACKAY: Joining me now is Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Competition, Dr Andrew Leigh. Good morning Dr Leigh. 

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks Jacquie, lovely to be here.

MACKAY: Now you've been campaigning against the effects test and how that might hit regional consumers, we'll talk a little bit about that in just a moment. But you're visiting too as part of Labor's North Queensland Taskforce so what exactly will you be doing today in Rocky and Gladstone?

LEIGH: Well I'll be here with Lisa Neaton, our terrific Capricornia candidate talking with local businesses about some of the issues facing the economic development of this wonderful part of the world and also discussing issues such as housing affordability and also cost of living which I know are important to many local residents. It's the same story wherever you go in Australia. People are saying that they're concerned about the fall in living standards in Australia over recent years and worried that we've got a Government that is out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Australians. Always there to back in the multinationals but not necessarily there for Australian families. 

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DOORSTOP

ROCKHAMPTON

MONDAY, 4 APRIL 2016

SUBJECT/S: Labor’s positive plans for Rockhampton, effects test and competition policy, Malcolm Turnbull’s second-rate National Broadband Network, fair schools and education funding, North Queensland Taskforce

LEISA NEATON, CANDIDATE FOR CAPRICORNIA: It's my pleasure today to be hosting Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer here in Rockhampton and also Senator McLucas from Northern Queensland. We're talking to local businesses and groups and we're having a roundtable about priorities for growth and development here in Central Queensland so I'll hand over to Andrew.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks very much, Leisa. Leisa is a great Labor candidate for the seat of Capricornia. We're here talking with local businesses in the community sector about making sure that Rockhampton thrives, about making sure that we reduce the gap between rich and poor which we've seen rising too much in Australia. Malcolm Turnbull has always got a plan for helping out multinationals; rarely does he have a plan for making sure we have strong Medicare, the social supports that Australians need and well-funded schools and hospitals. Labor is particularly concerned about Malcolm Turnbull's wacky plans on competition. Outsourcing competition policy to Barnaby Joyce with an effects test that might see prices rise. We've already had the head of Coles warning that effects tests could see the end of uniform pricing meaning that groceries currently priced the same in Rockhampton as they are in Toorak could well be more expensive in regional Australia. With Leisa you've got a candidate who will fight for cost of living who is going to work on long-term policies like making sure we have fast and affordable broadband in Rockhampton, making sure we've got a strong mining and agricultural industry, making sure that our kids have the education they need for the jobs of the future. We're happy to take questions.

ANDREW LEIGH MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION
MEMBER FOR FRASER
 
CLARE O’NEIL MP

MEMBER FOR HOTHAM

JULIAN HILL
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BRUCE

NO RELIEF FOR SOUTH-EAST MELBOURNE CHARITIES

Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh, Member for Hotham Clare O’Neil and Labor Candidate for Bruce Julian Hill visited South East Community Links today and saw firsthand the incredible work the organisation does in supporting the community, from employment, financial and counselling services, to assisting refugees and newly arrived migrants.

Andrew Leigh said “Labor is a friend of the sector. We have spent the past three years defending the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) from ideologues in the Abbott-Turnbull Government who set out to kill it. Under previous social services ministers Kevin Andrews and Scott Morrison, the government made scrapping the charities commission part of its so-called "red tape repeal" agenda”.

The Coalition belatedly bowed to public pressure and dropped its plans to abolish the Charities Commission, giving organisations like South East Community Links the opportunity to spend less time doing paperwork, and more time helping residents of South East Melbourne.

ANDREW LEIGH MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION
MEMBER FOR FRASER
 
PAT O’NEILL
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BRISBANE

EXPENSIVE EFFECTS FOR BRISBANE CONSUMERS UNDER THE LNP

At the same time as talking up a tax cut for big businesses, the Turnbull Government has committed to introducing an ‘effects test’ that will raise prices on everyday groceries such as bread and milk.

Having just backed down on the GST, the Government has moved to implement another policy that will see consumers pay more.

We know already the Deputy Prime Minister believes the “proper price” of milk is anywhere up to $11 a litre.

Labor has consistently opposed the effects test as it will have a chilling effect on competition. Companies fear that under an effects test, engaging in legitimate competitive conduct such as selling cheap bread and milk could land them in court.