Nick G.
The Australian Tax Office, under increasing pressure from
community groups and unions to shed light on tax evasion by the corporate
sector, has once again published data on companies privately owned in
Australia.
This complements data published last year on
publicly-listed companies (those that issue shares and are listed on the Australian
Stock Exchange). (For our earlier comment, see: http://www.cpaml.org/people3.php?id=275 )
A similar list was published in 2015 for the 2012-13 tax
year, showing that one in five private companies with an income of over $100
million paid no tax.
This led to a huge outcry against corporate tax evasion and
led the government, with Greens support, to change the criterion for inclusion
on the list from an income of over $100m to an income of over $200m. This shielded some 500-600 companies from public
scrutiny in the latest round and thus considerably understates the avoidance in
the corporate sector. Even so, 98 of the
top 321 private companies are now known to have paid no tax in 2013-14.
The biggest revenue earner not to pay tax was West
Australian grain handling cooperative
CBH, which paid no company tax in 2013-14
on more than $3.4 billion in revenue.
Among the other largest private companies that paid no
tax in 2013–14 were:
• Pratt
Consolidated Holdings, despite more than $2.5 billion in revenue;
• Thorney
Investments, run by Richard Pratt's son-in-law Alex Waislitz, which earned $430
million in revenue;
• Hoyts,
which had $417 million in gross earnings;
• McDonald's
Asia-Pacific Consortium (MAC), the global supplier of the fast food outlet's
beef, which had $478 million in revenue.
Of the remainder, most made use of legislative loopholes
to avoid paying their full tax liability.
With a corporate tax rate of 30%, many paid only a
fraction of that amount. Examples
include:
• Harry
Triguboff's Meriton, which paid almost $76 million in company tax from $1.19
billion in revenue;
• Perron
Investments, owned by Western Australian property and automotive tycoon Stan
Perron, which paid $47 million from $484 million in revenue;
• Linfox,
owned by trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, which paid nearly $34 million from $2.02
billion in gross earnings.
The ATO, which comes down hard on any wage-earner who
tries to avoid paying tax, warned that “not paying tax does not equate to tax
avoidance” and that “wealthy Australians made a substantial contribution to the
nation’s economy”.
We say that big corporations avoiding their responsibility
to pay tax epitomise the selfishness and greed of the capitalist system.
We say that big corporations avoiding their
responsibility to pay tax are thieves stealing from social funds for education,
health and social welfare services.
We say that big corporations avoiding their
responsibility to pay tax will lead more and more Australians to struggle for
anti-imperialist independence and socialism.
Years ago our party advanced the tactical slogan “Make
the Rich Pay”. It was based on the
premise that the rich weren’t paying enough for the social programs of the
people. It now transpires that the rich
constantly strive, and often successfully, to pay nothing at all.
As an immediate demand, “Make the Rich Pay….something,
anything” still resonates.
However, the days when we continue to tolerate the rich
at all are drawing to a close.
The enormous wealth that the Australian people generate
is wasted on the big local and foreign corporations.
It is wasted on the 1% of high net worth (investable
assets of at least $US1 million) and ultra-high net worth (investable assets of
at least $US50 million) individuals, of whom Australia has more than its share.
It is wasted by being diverted from production to satisfy
basic needs to speculation in the great global financial casino.
In time, we will transition from “Make the Rich Pay” to “Overthrow
the 1% and organise and run the place ourselves”!
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