TaxRambling.com

In the history of the Greens has there ever been a day they have made two tax announcements? Mark down 21 April.

First, they have plans for small business tax. They are proposing:

• A 2% tax cut for small businesses
• Restoring and increasing the instant asset write-off threshold to $10,000
• Restoring the loss carry-back provisions

Of course everyone knows the Coalition will announce a 2% small business tax cut in 21 days time in the budget so it is not a very brave announcement. But, other than there being no announcement on how they are going to fund it, we would all love a $10k instant asset write off. But remember what Government finances were like in 2008/09 when the Henry Review recommended this.

Second, the Greens leader has released a discussion paper of policies to crack down on “tax avoidance by multinational corporations”. Can someone please give her a dictionary… What is tax avoidance…

… “Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime to one’s own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law.”

She goes on to say companies that legally use the tax system are “dodging their taxes.”

This is a parliamentarian who doesn’t understand it is good to act according to law…

But lets get to the actual policy.

1. Re-employ the ATO employees who lost their jobs in the last 18 months… Does the Senator realise these “dodgy companies” were acting in the same legal way more than 18 months ago when all these employees were at the ATO?

2. Help whistleblowers at the ATO come forward – sour grapes that after spending a week in a Senate committee find absolutely no unpaid corporate tax?

3. Increase what the ATO publishes. This would include who the ATO settles matters with and “name and shame the worst offenders of profit shifting”. Remember, in the Senate inquiry we leart that the Senator and senator Xenophon think that paying for products from your Overseas parent company that you sell onto customers is profit shifting… Shouldn’t the parent company just give it to the Australian company for free??? If they did it would be illegal profit shifting from thE other country to Australia senator!

Apart from some changes to corporate reporting to ASIC this is it. 

Finally, if there are actually companies “dodging their taxes” as the Senator claims, they wont be worried at all. All the information the Senator wonts public is already in the ATO’s hands. So there will only be extra tax collected if the 20,000 ATO employees are in on the companies scam and ignoring the information they already have – nice conspiracy theory Senators.