Andrew Leigh

WHO GOT SCOMO TO DROP TAX LOOPHOLE ACTION?

This morning’s revelations in The Australian that at the last minute Scott Morrison backed away from plans to effectively address tax avoidance by multinational companies have raised further awkward questions about his budget for big business. Why did Scott Morrison get cold feet, and who bullied him into backing down?

 Prior to his first budget speech, the Treasurer’s Office was briefing journalists that the Government would be reduce the so-called “safe harbour” level in thin capitalisation rules from 60 per cent of total assets to 50 per cent to cut the amount of debt multinational companies can load into their Australian subsidiaries. In fact, a definition of “thin capitalisation law” still sits abandoned in the glossary of terms for the 2016 budget, published online by Treasury.

MULTINATIONALS GET A BIG TAX BREAK AND A PRETEND CRACKDOWN

In the 2014 Budget, the Coalition slashed services for the vulnerable. Two years later, they are giving huge tax breaks to the big end of town.

At the same time, the Coalition want Australians to believe they are getting tough on multinationals.

In fact, Mr Turnbull is so desperate to give a tax cut to multinationals that he’s planning to define them as small businesses.

To understand the multinational tax measures in this budget, you have to go beyond the slogans and pictures to look at the hard numbers.

Tax Avoidance

Last year, Coalition MPs cheered when Tony Abbott told parliament:

“So far the only idea they have come up with is to spend $100 million on the ATO to raise $1 billion. Well, next time they will be telling us to spend $1 billion on the ATO to raise $10 billion. That is the problem. All they can think of is spending more and taxing more. They just cannot help themselves. I actually think that deep down the Leader of the Opposition is better than that, and I would ask him to start demonstrating that now.”

      Question Time, 5 March 2015

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TV INTERVIEW

CNBC SQUAWK BOX

TUESDAY, 3 MAY 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Budget; Company tax cuts; Labor’s plan to clamp down on multinationals; Reserve bank meeting.

MATTHEW TAYLOR: Welcome back to the show, coming to you live from Canberra. Today of course we are counting down to the Federal Budget that will be handed down at 7:30 AEST tonight. It is the first Budget for Treasurer Scott Morrison and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in their respective new capacities. In terms of what's coming out in the Budget, not a lot of detail ahead of time, we do know that the Budget will be centred on small and medium size business with company tax cuts for small and medium enterprise. The definition or the classification of small business is going to change as well, those with a turnover of $5 million or less are going to be included so the net is really being widened on these tax concessions that are going to come through for small business reduced to about 27.5 per cent. We also know there are going to be tax cuts for income earners over $80,000 that is of course to stave off bracket creep, scrapping the budget repair levy, taxes on superannuation contribution for high income earners, an increase in the tobacco excise and also multinational tax avoidance. 

But let's get a bit of a look ahead to what the opposition is thinking may or may not be in the budget and some reaction to those early leaks. I am joined by Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer out here on the lawn this morning. Andrew, pleasure to see you thanks very much for chatting to us. I want to kick off on the company tax side point of view, what is the Opposition's response to that? Because broadening the definition of small business so a greater number of small and medium sized organisations going to benefit from a lower tax rate has got to be positive?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Well Matt, we'll wait and see exactly what the Government is proposing but the other dimension to this Budget is that it comes down at a time when Australian living standards have fallen and our debt position has worsened. Since the Government came to office, Australian net debt has increased by about $100 billion. Labor's concerned that a company tax cut that was purely funded by increased borrowing could well have an impact on Australia's creditworthiness. We believe it's absolutely critical to maintain Australia's three AAA credit ratings - not just for households but of course for businesses who'd see their interest bills rise under a credit downgrade scenario.

CANBERRA RUNNERS

At 71 years old, Dick Telford tells me that he ‘only’ runs twice a day. Whippet-thin and fluid in his movements, Telford’s sport career started playing AFL for Collingwood and Fitzroy. When he switched to running, he realised he was pretty good at it. He’s run a marathon in 2 hours 27 minutes, and helped train Rob de Castella, Lisa Ondieki, Martin Dent and Carolyn Schuwalow through the Australian Institute of Sport.

There are few better cities for runners than Canberra. Loping around Lake Burley-Griffin, you might see the sun rise, and watch the kayakers spreading ripples across the smooth surface. On the dirt trails of Mount Ainslie, you’ll dodge kangaroos and test your muscles against the hills. Local ovals are perfect for beginners just starting jogging, or sprinters keen to feel the wind in their ears.

With three young boys and an unpredictable job, I find there’s nothing better than running to clear the cobwebs and keep the mind in perspective.  It’s also a great way to get to know the active and unpretentious running community. For an energetic start to the weekend, try the Saturday morning 5 kilometre Parkrun events organised every weekend at Gungahlin, Belconnen and Tuggeranong. If you want a bit more of a challenge, sign up for the YMCA’s Half Marathon on 22 May. Most of us won’t run as far or fast as Dick Telford. But with a runners’ paradise on our doorstep, why not take the chance to check it out?

Andrew Leigh is the shadow assistant treasurer and Member for Fraser. 

This piece was originally published in The Chronicle.

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TV INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS - THE LATEST WITH LAURA JAYES

MONDAY, 2 MAY 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Budget; Labor’s plan to clamp down on multinationals; Higher education funding.

LAURA JAYES: Andrew Leigh thanks so much for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure.

JAYES: There has been a lot of talk about income tax cuts in the budget tomorrow and the talk is that it will be at a $80,000 level, will Labor support that?

LEIGH: Laura, there has been a lot of talk about a lot of things in this budget. It has had the suggestion that the Government was going to cut company taxes, remove funding to public schools, that it was going to give income tax powers to the states and raise the GST. Rather than speculating, why don't we wait and actually see what's in the budget. We do know that a tax cut which comes in at $80,000 would only go to the top quarter of Australian workers and that would be something which would see the typical Australian worker miss out.

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ABC NEWSRADIO BREAKFAST

TUESDAY, 3 MAY 2016

SUBJECT/S: Parliamentary Budget Office policy costings, Labor’s policies, Government’s protection of the big end of town, Interest rates

MARK TAMHANE, REPORTER: Andrew Leigh, Good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning, Mark.

TAMHANE: Treasury has found a $20 billion hole in your policy costings, is that the end of all that extra revenue Labor promised to see all the Gonski education reforms through in full if elected

LEIGH: Well Mark,  let's go back a little bit. We announced this important policy on tobacco excise, making a controversial decision, and were attacked at the time by the Government. But our numbers were determined by the Parliamentary Budget Office and we're confident that the Parliamentary Budget Office stands at arm's length from Labor. 

This is the same outfit that did the costings at the last election. The Parliamentary Budget Office works with Treasury, using their numbers, and of course Labor's numbers will be updated as we get closer to the election. But the Government's really just trying to cover up the fact they've spent months attacking Labor and they're now adopting Labor policy.

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DOORSTOP

PARLIAMENT

MONDAY, 2 MAY 2016

SUBJECTS: Turnbull Government's plan for the election, not the economy; Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison hope Australians have collective amnesia; Labor’s plan for the economy and tax; superannuation; multinational tax; company tax cuts; income tax cuts; infrastructure

CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks everybody. After more than six months of telling the Australian people that they had an economics plan, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison are now telling us they’ll get around to announcing the economic plan tomorrow night. They haven’t had a plan. They had a plan to knock off Tony Abbott, but they had little idea about what to do next. We’ve seen six months of thought bubbles, half-baked ideas, policies which have lasted less than 24 hours, and now, Scott Morrison expects the Australian people to believe that he’s got it all together for tomorrow night.

LABOR CONTINUES TO SHINE LIGHT ON THE DARK CORNERS OF MULTINATIONAL TAX

Making multinationals pay their fair share has always been a Labor agenda. In government, we closed loopholes and improved transparency, over the repeated objections of the Liberals.

From Opposition, we have led the debate, releasing strong policies to reduce excessive debt-loading and properly resource the tax office. The Government is still welcome to adopt our $7.2 billion package.

If elected to Government, Labor will introduce an additional comprehensive suite of new measures to increase transparency on the tax affairs of multinational corporations.

In Government, Labor will:

• Increase penalties for non-compliance with country-by-country reporting:

It is simply wrong that the current penalty for failing to file country-by-country reports is a mere $5400 – less than you get for streaking across the SCG. Labor will increase that penalty 50 times. Should a company continue non-compliance after the maximum fine is reached, the Commissioner of Taxation is empowered to conduct a broad review of the company’s tax affairs.

• Restore the $100 million threshold for reporting the tax affairs of large private firms bringing them back in line with public companies:

Labor’s original threshold was watered-down in a dirty deal between the Coalition and the Greens last year, with 600 companies being shielded from public scrutiny as a result.

• Obligation to disclose the beneficial ownership for Australian legal identities:

Labor will ensure that the G20 principles Australia committed to at the G20 summit in Brisbane in 2014, which are based on guidance from the Financial Action Task Force, are implemented fully and quickly to ensure that Australia cannot be used as a destination for money-laundering, tax evasion, terrorism financing or other criminal behaviour.

This will be achieved by establishing a publicly accessible central registry of the beneficial ownership of companies, trusts and other corporate structures.

ARE THE PANAMA PAPERS JUST THE TIP OF AUSTRALIA'S TAX AVOIDANCE ICEBERG?

Are It pays to pay attention to Senate Committees now and then, because they have a habit of asking public servants difficult questions from which we learn interesting things about Government claims. The recent Senate Economic Committee hearing was an excellent example, when Australian Tax Office officials (some of the few remaining after the Government slashed 4,700 tax office jobs) effectively dismissed out-of-hand the Prime Minister's exaggeration that Australia is 'leading the charge' on tax avoidance.

Tax Office Deputy Commissioner Mark Konza would allow only that Australia has been part of the OECD's "leadership group on tax avoidance" but demurred at the notion that Australia was "leading". Of course, this news wasn't new -- Australia has been part of this group for some years, under this and previous Governments -- but what the hearings did reveal is that the Australian involvement in the "Panama Papers" tax secrecy network might just be the tiny tip of an enormous iceberg.

AUSTRALIANS AREN’T BETTER OFF THAN AT THE LAST ELECTION

Are you better off than at the last election? If you answered no, you're in the majority. Living standards are lower today than they were in 2013.

Sure, we keep hearing about those 25 years of uninterrupted economic growth Australia will clock up this year. But what often gets ignored is that this is based on total national output – a measure called Gross Domestic Product. It isn't adjusted for population growth, money that gets paid to overseas shareholders, or the relative prices of exports to imports.

Each of these adjustments makes a difference, but the easiest one to get a handle on is the mistake of looking at total production rather than output per person. In recent years, Australia has had one of the fastest population growth rates in the advanced world. Looking only at the total is like measuring an exercise regime by adding up all the calories burned at your gym. When another person walks in the door, they raise the total, but that doesn't mean you're any healthier.