The Australian, 29 March 2018, p.6:
Showing posts with label Turnbull Government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Turnbull Government. Show all posts
Tuesday 3 April 2018
NSW Bar Association: “As members of the legal profession, we know indigenous Australians, proportionately, are the most incarcerated on earth. This diminishes us as a nation.”
The Australian, 29 March 2018, p.6:
As members of the legal
profession, we know indigenous Australians, proportionately, are the most
incarcerated on earth. This diminishes us as a nation.
Sovereignty and
dispossession, recognition and representation of interests: they are different
facets of the same problem. It is something that we, as lawyers, have a duty to
help solve. It is because of this duty that the legal profession welcomed the government’s
reference to the Australian Law Reform Commission to examine, among other
issues, rates of incarceration for the indigenous.
The Pathways to Justice
report of the ALRC represents a comprehensive blueprint to address the shameful
over-representation of indigenous people in our prisons. Swift and decisive
action is required from commonwealth, state and territory governments to ensure
its recommendations are implemented.
ALRC recommendations
relating to sentencing and bail regimes, the repeal of mandatory sentencing
laws, an effective justice reinvestment framework, culturally appropriate
community-based sentencing options, and so on, are all aimed at how
substantive, not just formal, equality before the law can be achieved for
indigenous people. All recommendations are supported by the NSW Bar Association
as important initiatives which will contribute to addressing Aboriginal incarceration rates.
The NSW Bar is pleased
the ALRC supports establishment of indigenous sentencing courts including the
NSW Walama Court. The Walama Court is critical in reducing indigenous incarceration.
The model involves community participation and greater supervision, resulting
in reduced recidivism and increased compliance with court orders to better
protect the community. It is not a “soft on crime” initiative but rather a more
effective manner to supervise offenders post-sentence which would enhance
rehabilitation and prevent re-offending.
At this stage the NSW
government has not allocated funds to establish the Walama Court in the 2018-19
financial year, despite the fact it would have long-term economic cost savings
for NSW as fewer indigenous people will be imprisoned and rates of recidivism
would be reduced…..
Australian
Law Reform Commission (ALRC) Pathways
to Justice–Inquiry into the Incarceration Rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples (ALRC Report 133) Final Report, published on 28
March 2018.
ALRC "Pathways to Justice—An Inquiry into the Incarceration Rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander P... by clarencegirl on Scribd
Friday 30 March 2018
Corporate tax cuts lead to 'jobs and growth' in Australia? Pull the other one!
This Business Council of Australia survey
was apparently mothballed when initial results indicated that it would reveal
the truth about outcomes flowing from the Turnbull Government’s planned
corporate tax cuts - a distinct lack of jobs and wages growth.
Financial
Review, 27
March 2018:
Fewer than one in five
of Australia's leading chief executives say they will use the Turnbull
government's proposed
company tax cut to directly increase wages or employ more staff,
according to a secret survey conducted by the Business Council of Australia.
More than 80 per cent
said they would either use the proceeds to boost returns to shareholders or
invest in the company.
The explosive revelation
comes as the government is
still struggling to secure the final two Senate votes needed to pass
the remainder of the $65 billion package.
The survey follows a
letter to all Senators last week by the BCA and 10 of the nation's top
chief executive officers in which they pledged to reinvest the proceeds of the
tax cuts with the ultimate aim of increasing wages.
"If the Senate
passes this important legislation we, as some of the nation's largest
employers, commit to invest more in Australia which will lead to employing more
Australians and therefore stronger wage growth as the tax cut takes
effect," the letter said.
But The Australian
Financial Review has learned that the BCA directly surveyed the chief
executives of its 130-plus members about a company tax cut this year, in the
wake of the company tax rate cut in the United States.
The chief executives
were asked which of four options they would nominate as their preferred
response to the company tax cut in Australia.
These were: returning
funds to shareholders; more investment; increasing the wages of their existing
workforce; or increasing employment.
More than 80 per cent
nominated one of the first two options while only 16 per cent to 17 per cent
nominated higher wages or employment.
The survey results are
understood to have been tightly held but were reported on internally in a memo
entitled "the good news and the bad news".
A spokesman for the BCA
confirmed the survey to the Financial Review on Monday but downplayed
its significance…….
This lobby group has now decided that 'spin' is more important than fact and senators have all received a BCA video appeal promising well-paid and meaningful jobs and wages growth that only growing investment can deliver if the comapny tax cits are passed.
A neat trick given that its members are also arguing before the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review 2017-18 that the minimum wage should remain as is or only be increased by 34-35 cents an hour which represents no growth in real wages.
The vague, slyly worded non-promise to lift workers wages received by Senators
via @Tony_Burke
Friday 23 March 2018
Federal Liberals behaving badly in 2018
This was the Liberal MP for Leichardt and Chair of Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia Warren George Entsch on 7 March 2018 at warrenentsch.com.au.....
Federal Leichhardt MP
Warren Entsch is calling for big ideas from the community that could help shape
the future of the region.
Mr Entsch said the $272
million Regional Growth Fund would support major projects in regional, rural
and remote areas that delivered long-term economic benefits.
“This is an exciting
program that is set to deliver major projects over $20 million that take
advantage of the region’s natural economic strengths,” Mr Entsch said.
“The Regional Growth
Fund will support additional investment for sustainable economic growth,
including from the private sector, other levels of government, and
not-for-profit organisations.
“Initial applications
close on 27 April 2018 and I encourage everyone eligible in our community to
look at the program guidelines and get started on an application.”
Mr Entsch said the
Federal Government would invest a minimum of $10 million toward each successful
infrastructure project, representing a maximum of 50 per cent of project costs.
This was The Cairns Post on the subject of a particular pork
barrel and Mr. Entsch…..
22 March
2018
It was a long and tough
election campaign for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. He finally buckled late
in the 2016 race and matched Labor’s pledge to fund the final $100 million to
build Townsville’s stadium.
It was a welcome boost
to Coalition MPs but Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch needed a lift
too.
Mr Turnbull threw him a
bone in the form of a $20 million regional jobs and investment package.
It wasn’t a $100 million
pledge but it struck at the heart of something the region desperately needed:
jobs.
The announcement
received a lot of media and Mr Entsch was delivered another term in Canberra.
But 100 days after the
Coalition was sworn in there was little action and even less in the way of
detail on how businesses could access the funding. Time dragged on until
Advance Cairns chairman and campaign director for Mr Entsch, Trent Twomey was
named chairman of the Local Planning Committee for the fund in January 2017.
Among the committee’s
brief was to set the eligibility criteria. The application process was finally
rolled out, closing in July 2017. Throughout the process the Cairns Post has
watched, waited and asked questions to ensure the fund was not just a hollow
election promise. After 20 months Mr Entsch announced in February a list of recipients;
among them was a $2.4m grant for QRX Group 1 to establish a first for FNQ — a
pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution centre. The project, never heard
of until the announcement, has raised many eyebrows. There are questions that
need answering about the true number of jobs it will generate, a key criterion
of the funding, and if there is a real conflict of interest with Mr Twomey’s
wife a one-third owner of QRX Group 1.
22 March
2018
Leichardt MP Warren Entsch could
face a quizzing over how the wife of his campaign director Trent Twomey won a
$2.4 million federal grant to expand her family pharmaceutical empire.
The Australian Federal
Police is looking into a formal complaint of alleged fraud and misconduct in
the handling of the multi-million dollar handout.
Far North civic and
business leaders told the Cairns Post many taxpayers held concerns about LNP
pork-barrelling and whether it “passes the sniff test”.
Mr Entsch, whose son
works for the pharmacy company behind the deal, said it was a “brilliant
project” and he was outraged by suggestions “about fraud and corruption” over
the $220m Regional Jobs and Investment Package (RJIP).
“It ticked all the
boxes,’’ he said.
Mr Entsch appointed his
election campaign manager Trent Twomey, a local pharmacist and Advance Cairns
chairman, to head an RJIP committee panel to identify key priorities for $20m
in federal grants to stimulate jobs growth and investment.
The shelf company QRX
Group 1 – where Mr Twomey’s wife Georgina and business partner Leo Maltam are
listed in company records as directors – won $2,415,400 in funds to build a $5m
pharmacy distribution facility……
The Australian Federal
Police has been referred a formal complaint but are yet to launch an official
“active” fraud investigation. An AFP spokesman suggested the matter might be
referred to the Department of Regional Development’s internal probity and audit
unit.
Business leaders and
pharmacy owners said the vision to build Northern Australia’s first
pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution centre was unheard of until the
grant was announced two weeks ago.…….
Tuesday 20 March 2018
Australia Post-Port Arthur Massacre
Twenty years after the
Port Arthur Massacre when a lone gunman killed 35 people and wounded 23 more…….
The
Conversation,
27 April 2016:
The 1996 firearm laws
were immediately followed by a
buying spree, as banned rapid-fire rifles and shotguns were replaced with
freshly imported single-shot firearms.
By 1999, civilian gun
imports had dropped to a record low. And most gun dealers closed their doors.
In the years that
followed, gun-buying climbed steadily to new heights. By 2015, the arms trade
had broken
all previous records. Last financial year Australia imported 104,000
firearms.
The million
guns destroyed after Port Arthur have been replaced with 1,026,000 new
ones. And the surge only shows upward momentum.
Twenty-one years after……
News.com.au, 12 October 2017:
THERE is a major
“loophole” in Australia’s gun laws which allows for private arsenals with
hundreds of guns and owners to “buy their first ... or 310th gun”.
Tighter restrictions on
gun ownership — including a compulsory requirement to show “genuine reason” for
owning each firearm — were introduced in 1996 following the Port Arthur
massacre.
But the number of
weapons that can be owned by an individual have since been weakened in various
states and are not exclusively capped.
NSW Greens spokesman
David Shoebridge said “a loophole in NSW’s gun laws allows private individuals
to use the same reason to buy their 1st, 10th or 310th gun” and that Australia
faces another mass shooting if the national approach to gun control isn’t
tightened.
“A 20-year review of gun
laws enacted after the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996 did not even look at
capping the number of guns that can be owned by one individual,” he said.
“We are seeing private
arsenals being built up in our major capital cities ...(and) suburbia.”
NSW Police figures for
private firearm ownership obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show
there are 31 private arsenals across Sydney with 73 to 305 guns each.
“Of the top 100 private
arsenals with the most guns, 31 are in Sydney,” Mr Shoebridge said.
“These gun owners are
not collectors or arms dealers but private individuals who have been allowed to
amass private arsenals.
“It is inevitable that
some of these private arsenals with end up in the hands of criminals.
“This really isn’t a
question of mere politics it is a question of life and death.”
Almost 22 years later……
ABC
News, 1 March
2018:
Thousands of automatic
rifles, handguns and a rocket launcher are among the weapons handed in during
last year's National Firearms Amnesty.
The final results,
released today, show 57,324 firearms were handed in between July and September
across Australia to be registered or destroyed.
Authorities received
around 2,500 fully-automatic or semi-automatic guns that were previously
unaccounted for, and 2,900 handguns.
The rocket launcher was
handed in to a licensed firearms dealer in Queensland, who believes it was once
recovered at a local tip.
New South Wales received
the highest number of firearms at 24,831, followed by Queensland on 16,375.
Victorians handed in 9,175 guns.
Almost a third of the
weapons were destroyed, with the rest either registered and handed back, or
passed on to a licensed dealer for resale.
Federal Minister for Law
Enforcement Angus Taylor said the weapons were no longer on the "grey
market", which refers to guns that are not registered and not in the hands
of criminals.
"It's critical to
get them off this grey market … so they don't end up in the black market,"
he said.
Despite the evidence
before his eyes Home Affairs tsar Peter Dutton is apparently considering
expanding the political power of the Australian gun lobby – Ă la U.S. National Rifle
Association……
The
Guardian, 15
March 2018:
The home affairs
minister, Peter
Dutton, is considering establishing a committee to allow gun importers to
review proposed changes to firearm regulations for “appropriateness and
intent”.
Following a meeting with
a pro-gun lobbyist in February, Dutton is weighing up whether to establish a
so-called “firearms advisory council”, which the gun lobby says would give it
“a seat at the table” to advise the government on firearms policy.
Last month Dutton met
with officials from Nioa, one of Australia’s largest gun dealers, and members
of the shooting lobby to discuss the council.
Nioa is run by Robert
Nioa, a major political donor to his father-in-law, the federal MP Bob Katter.
He is also a director of the firearms industry lobbying group Shooting Industry
Foundation of Australia, or Sifa.
Sifa’s other directors
include the general manager of Winchester Australia, Clive Pugh and the
managing director of Beretta Australia, Luca Scribani Rossi.
The group donated
to Liberal and National MPs in the lead-up to the 2016 federal
election and pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign that helped
minor rightwing parties gain votes in last year’s Queensland state
election.
Held at Nioa’s company
headquarters in Brisbane, the meeting was attended by Laura Patterson, Sifa’s
communications and research officer, and Nioa official David Briggs.
Robert Nioa was not at the meeting.
In a video posted by
Sifa on social media, Patterson said the meeting was aimed at “formalising” the
establishment of a “firearms advisory council”.
In the video, which
included an image of the department’s logo, Patterson said the council would
“establish a mechanism for expert government to industry consultation” and
would allow Sifa to “review proposed regulatory changes for efficiency,
appropriateness and intent”.
BACKGROUND
Australian Government, Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017:
Rates of firearm-related
injuries for both hospitalised cases and deaths fell between 1999–00 and
2005–06 from a starting rate of 2 cases per 100,000 population to 1.5 per
100,000 for hospitalised cases and 1 per 100,000 for deaths in 2013–14 (Figure
6).
Rates for hospitalised
cases were relatively steady from 2005–06 onwards, while rates for deaths
continued to fall:
* The fall in rates for
hospitalised cases in the early part of the period was mainly attributable to a
decline in unintentional cases, from 221 to 105, between 1999–00 and 2005–06.
* The fall in rates for
deaths over the entire period was mainly attributable to a decline in
intentional self-harm (suicide) cases, from 236 to 166, between 1999–00 and
2012–13.
The rate of firearm
suicide by males was about 6 to 7 per 100,000 population annually for about 30
years, to the late 1980s.
The rate then declined
to less than 1 per 100,000 by 2011 (Figure 7). A similar pattern was seen for
females, although rates were much lower.
Thursday 15 March 2018
Let's talk about excess franking credits and why they have been money for jam for the last 17 years
This is what
the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) states about imputation:
Dividends paid to
shareholders by Australian resident companies are taxed under a system known as
imputation. This is where the tax the company pays is imputed, or attributed,
to the shareholders. The tax paid by the company is allocated to shareholders
as franking credits attached to the dividends they receive.
If you receive franking
credits on your dividends, you need to let us know your:
* franked amount
* franking credit.
If you are an Australian
resident, we will use this information to:
* reduce your tax
liability from all forms of income (not just dividends) and from your taxable
net capital gain
* refund any excess
franking to you after any of your income tax and Medicare levy liabilities have
been met.
You are eligible for a
refund of excess franking credits if all of the following apply:
* You receive franked
dividends, on or after 1 July 2000, either directly or through a
trust or partnership.
* Your basic tax liability
is less than your franking credits after taking into account any other tax
offsets you are entitled to.
* You meet our
anti-avoidance rules, which are designed to ensure everyone pays their fair
share of tax.
If you have received a
dividend that has Australian franking credits attached from a New Zealand
franking company, you may be eligible to claim the Australian sourced franking
credits.
The policy of
giving cash back for unused franking credits was introduced in 2000 by then
Howard Government treasurer Peter
Costello and for the last 17 years it has been systematically rorted by superannuation
funds, private corporations, trusts and individuals - to the point where Treasury
pays out an est. $6 billion per annum under this scheme.
With one individual whopaid no income tax reportedly received millions claiming cash for unused franking credits and the average unused credits cash back payment for people in the top 1% of self-managed super funds being est. $83,000 a year.
With one individual whopaid no income tax reportedly received millions claiming cash for unused franking credits and the average unused credits cash back payment for people in the top 1% of self-managed super funds being est. $83,000 a year.
In March 2018
Federal Labor announced a policy effective
January 2019 which removes claims for franking credits
- but only in those years that the prospective claimant has no income tax
liability payable.
So ending
taxpayer-subsidised money for jam for around est. 9 per cent of the population who were receiving cash refunds for tax they had never paid .
Turnbull,
Morrison & Co then came out fighting – accusing Opposition Leader Bill Shorten of robbing low income self-funded retirees
and aged pensioners.
At that
point, somewhat predictably, embarrassment for the Turnbull Government began…..
What Treasurer and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison considered low income retirees was elucidated.
Turnbull & Co were accused of telling political lies.
What Treasurer and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison considered low income retirees was elucidated.
The Australian, 14 March 2018:
A retired couple living
in a $2m house, with $3.2m in super, are classified as ‘‘low income’’. They
have no income tax liability. They could also have an investment property and
still wouldn’t have a tax liability because of the bizarre “senior and pensioners’
tax offset”, which lifts their effective tax-free threshold to about $58,000.
Turnbull & Co were accused of telling political lies.
The
Guardian, 14
March 2018:
You won’t have missed
the foghorn blast from the Turnbull government and its media amplifiers that
has accompanied Labor’s latest
bold foray on tax policy.
Scott Morrison has
declared Labor is stealing
tax refunds from pensioners and low-income retirees, and Malcolm
Turnbull says Bill Shorten “is going after the savings of your parents and
their friends and their contemporaries”.
So how do these
terrifying-sounding claims stack up?
Let’s bring in the
respected economist Saul Eslake, who has no political dog in this race. Eslake
is blunt. He says the government’s posturing is “misleading in the same way
that most of what Scott Morrison said
about Labor’s policy on negative gearing was misleading”.
To understand precisely
what is misleading – the first thing to know is when we are talking about
Australian retirees having low incomes, often what that means is people have
low taxable incomes.
Income from
superannuation funds is tax free once people turn 60. Eslake says the decision
to make income from super tax free is “top of my list of the dumbest tax policy
decisions of the last 25 years”.
It means people with
substantial assets, and big super balances – millionaires in fact – are in a
position to report low taxable income, and in fact structure their affairs to
ensure they have low taxable income.
They were also quite rightly accused of knowing that dividend imputation Ă la Costello is an expensive rort.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
13 March 2018:
Treasury considered
dividend imputation reform in the lead up to Treasurer Scott Morrison's last
budget, creating a dossier entitled "Tax Policy - Dividend
Imputation" more than a year before Labor announced it would target the
tax refunds of more than one million Australians on Tuesday.
The confidential file
itemised in a list required to be disclosed by departments as part of freedom
of information requirements was opened by Treasury in the first-half of last
year.
Fairfax Media
understands Treasury has been examining withholding dividend cheques from
non-taxpaying shareholders ahead of this year's May budget.
Investigating potential
savings needed to fund budget initiatives such as personal income tax cuts is
normal practice in the pre-budget period.
Mr Morrison said on
Tuesday the "government has never entertained" changes to the way it
gives cash back to shareholders in response to a policy he described as a
"cruel blow for retirees and pensioners," but his predecessor
Joe Hockey first asked how dividend imputation could be improved - not replaced
- three
years ago.
A white discussion paper
on tax reform commissioned by Mr Hockey and completed by Treasury in 2015
found "there are some revenue concerns with the refundability of
imputation credits," indicating the department was receiving lower tax
revenues than it expected.
"It provides a
greater incentive for shareholders of closely held companies to delay
distributions until a time when individual owners are subject to a relatively
low tax rate, to receive a refund of tax paid by the company."
The
list published by Treasury shows the department's work on dividend
imputation policy continued after Mr Morrison became Treasurer in 2016…..
Labor, which has not
released Parliamentary Budget Office costings of its policy, said it planned on
cancelling an average cash refund of $5000 on share dividends from 8 per cent
of taxpayers, including 200,000 voters who self-manage their own super funds
and 1 per cent of full pensioners..….
"Rethink: Better tax, better Australia" discussion paper information here and submissions here.
Image found on Twitter
"Rethink: Better tax, better Australia" discussion paper information here and submissions here.
Labels:
rorts,
shares,
taxation,
Turnbull Government
Monday 12 March 2018
Employer groups put pressure on Turnbull Government to stifle union mergers
In 2017 members
of the Construction, Forestry, Mining
and Energy Union (CFMEU), The
Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) considered
a proposal to amalgamate into one union or alternatively to amalgamate only the
CFMEU and the MUA.
The ballot
was conducted by the Australian
Electoral Commission (AEC) and results declared on 28 November 2017. There appears to have been no irregularities affecting the ballot outcome.
The Fair Work Commission handed down a
decision giving effect to the CFMEU and MUA amalgamation on 27 March
2018.
Employer
groups Australian Mines and Metals
Association (AMMA) and Master
Builders Australia (MBA) are now appealing the Commission’s decision.
The Australian, 9 March 2018, p.2.
Employers have taken
legal action to try to overturn the Fair Work Commission decision approving
the merger of the construction and maritime unions.
The Australian Mines and
Metals Association and Master Builders Australia yesterday appealed the
decision to a commission full bench.
The employers are also
seeking a stay of the decision, which, if granted, would mean the merger would
not proceed from its scheduled date of March 27.
The AMMA and MBA say the
commission decision contained errors of laws and should not have approved the
amalgamation.
Maritime Union of
Australia national secretary Paddy Crumlin said the unions would vigorously
oppose the appeal and defend the rights of workers to have freedom of
association.
“Our members have
overwhelmingly supported this amalgamation (with the CFMEU) and it should be up
to them to decide whether they merge,” he said.
Former employment
minister Eric Abetz welcomed the appeal, saying the government should
intervene in the proceedings in support of the employer application. He said
the government should move urgently to pass laws subjecting union mergers to a
public interest test.
Workplace Relations
Minister Craig Laundy said the government would resume talks with Senate
crossbenchers in a bid to win support for the bill, which has yet to be put to
a vote.
AMMA is lobbying for an
amendment to the bill designed to have the public interest test take affect
before March 27 but Mr Laundy declined to express a view on the proposed
amendment.
The
Australian, 8
March 2018:
Employers have accused
the Turnbull government of being missing in action after the Coalition failed
to pass laws subjecting union mergers to a public interest test.
Workplace Relations
Minister Craig Laundy said today the government would resume talks with Senate
crossbenchers in a bid to win support for the bill, which has yet to be put to
a Senate vote.
“The Ensuring Integrity Bill remains a priority
for the Government, but because of Labor’s opposition we need the support of
the crossbench,’’ he said.
“Despite what has been
said in recent days, the Government simply didn’t have the numbers to pass the
Bill. I am reaching out to the crossbench to see if that has changed.
Labels:
AEC,
court,
Fair Work Commission,
lobby groups,
Turnbull Government,
unions
Thursday 22 February 2018
So Prime Minister Turnbull has been bitiching again about the ABC's reporting
It's also disingenuous to talk about a 30 per cent rate when so few
companies pay anything like that thanks to tax legislation that allows them to
avoid paying corporate tax. Exclusive analysis released by ABC today reveals one
in five of Australia's top companies has paid zero tax for the past three years.
On that same
day the House
of Representatives Hansard recorded these mentions:
Mr THISTLETHWAITE
(Kingsford Smith) (10:12): ………All of these hardworking Australians would be
thrilled to know—very pleased to know—that the ABC has uncovered that about one in five Australian
companies pay no company tax whatsoever in this country. Yes, that's right: 380
of Australia's largest companies pay absolutely no income tax at all—a big
doughnut; a big fat zero. They include airlines, banks, financial
service companies, mining, energy, clothing, steel, and telecommunications
companies. There's even a condom manufacturer. That's rather appropriate, given
what they've just done to the Australian taxpayer in paying no tax at all
during the course of the last couple of years…..
Mr THISTLETHWAITE
(Kingsford Smith) (13:49): As mums and dads pack up the kids, send them off to
school and head off to work; as pensioners struggle to put the air-conditioner
on because of rising electricity costs; and as students face increases in their
fees because of cuts to TAFE and cuts to funding for education—these
hard-working Australians, as they head off to jobs and study today, would be
pleased to know that the ABC has uncovered that one in five Australian
companies pay absolutely no company tax in this country. That's right, 380 of Australia's
largest companies paid absolutely zero company tax over the course of the last
three years. They include airlines, energy companies, mining companies,
clothing companies, banks, insurance companies and a manufacturer of
condoms—which is highly appropriate, given the rogering that they've just given
Australian hardworking taxpayers by paying no tax. Now, given that these
companies pay no corporate tax, what is the response of the Turnbull
government? The response of the Turnbull government is to give them a tax cut.
These companies are struggling so much that we're going to give them a tax cut!
Yes, that's right: 380 of the largest companies that pay no tax will get a tax
cut, despite the fact that they're increasing taxes for Australian workers by
putting up the Medicare levy. We won't cop it. Labor will oppose these tax cuts
and we'll stand up for average, hard-working, battling Australians……
Mr TURNBULL
(Wentworth—Prime Minister) (14:03): I thank the honourable member for her
question. The government is supporting and delivering lower business taxes
because we know they will result in more investment and more jobs. Company tax
is ultimately a tax on workers. When nearly nine in 10 Australians work for
private business, surely it is obvious that it's in the national interest to
support the companies that employ the overwhelming majority of Australians.
But, instead of supporting policies that will create jobs and grow wages, the
opposition is busy peddling the myth that business does not care about the
level of tax and doesn't in fact pay tax. I'm not sure where the $68 billion of
company tax receipts came from, but, according to the Labor Party, companies
don't pay tax. The Labor Party wants to increase taxes; the government wants to
reduce them. But we do not believe that paying tax is optional. Every
Australian and every business that makes a profit in Australia must pay their
fair share of tax. You'd think that was common sense, but not for the
opposition. Like everything the opposition leader does, he calls for action one
minute and then opposes it the next. He called for action against multinational
tax avoidance and then he voted against some of the toughest anti-avoidance
laws in the world. If this isn't clear enough for the members opposite, we'd be
happy to arrange a briefing with officials from the Australian Taxation Office.
We have introduced and, no thanks to the Labor Party, passed through the
parliament some of the toughest multinational tax avoidance laws in the world.
At that briefing from the ATO, I am sure that those distinguished officials
will be able to provide a tutorial on the difference between revenue and profit
because members opposite either don't understand the difference or they're now
calling for businesses to be taxed on revenue—not profit— even if the business
makes a loss. We saw that
they were busily retweeting the article—one of the most confused and poorly
researched articles I've seen on this topic on the ABC's website. Of
course, the ABC is an enterprise that understands profit and loss.
Opposition members
interjecting—
Mr TURNBULL: It does! It
understands taxes; they're recipients of them. They receive them—taxpayers'
funds. They understand the difference: the hard work of investing and
struggling and losing money one year and then being able to offset it against
profit the next—or not. No, the ABC has the same understanding of the
commercial world as does the opposition. (Time expired)
The Australian
Financial Review scenting blood after the prime minister’s
criticism went to print with this disingenuous take on 15 February 2018:
Both premises fatally
expose their author's innumeracy. The first is demonstrably false. Freely
available data produced by the Australian Taxation Office show that 32 of Australia's 50 largest
companies paid $19.33 billion in company tax in FY16 (FY17 figures are
not yet available). The other 18 paid nothing. Why? They lost money, or were
carrying over previous losses.
I’m sure North Coast Voices readers will quickly
notice that Alberici was citing statistics for a baseline of around 1,900
companies and the ‘Fin Review’ columnist was citing a baseline of 50 companies -
so of course the number of companies paying no tax to the number of companies
paying tax is going to differ between the two baselines.
Reading the full text there does not appear to be any factuall inaccuracies in the Alberici article being complained about.
Reading the full text there does not appear to be any factuall inaccuracies in the Alberici article being complained about.
Meanwhile ABC News withdrew the online version of
the economic analysis
and updated Alberici’s
companion article in order to provide further
information and context.
The companion
article still contains those same statistics:
Analysis by the ABC
reveals Qantas is not alone — about 380, or one in five, of Australia's largest companies have paid
no tax for at least the past three years.
However,
these opening lines written by Alberici in the article “There's no case for a corporate
tax cut when one in five of Australia's top companies don't pay it” on
14 February are now missing in action as this analysis gently sinks to the
bottom of the Internet:
There is no compelling
evidence that giving the country's biggest companies a tax cut sees that money
passed on to workers in the form of higher wages.
Treasury modelling
relies on theories that belie the reality that's playing out around the world.
Since the peak of the
commodities boom in 2011-12, profit margins have risen to levels not seen since
the early 2000s but wages growth has been slower than at any time since the
1960s.
The Guardian reported on 16 February that:
Guardian Australia understands ABC News management has been in crisis meetings for two days after the prime minister attacked the articles in question time and then wrote formal letters of complaint to management.
The Guardian reported on 16 February that:
Guardian Australia understands ABC News management has been in crisis meetings for two days after the prime minister attacked the articles in question time and then wrote formal letters of complaint to management.
I suspect
that what Turnbull took umbrage to in the first place was the fact that one article took a stronger position on
why corporate tax cuts were not good for the economy or wages growth and, therefore
were unlikely to benefit workers and
their families and, the other article which is still online did not address this aspect of government taxation policy.
So he set out to shoot the message down and be damned to the fate of the messenger.
Of course in attempting this Turnbull created a Steisand Effect With A Twist - ensuring that the full text of “There's no case for a corporate tax cut when one in five of Australia's top companies don't pay it” has been copied onto websites he can't bully and the article's analysis is still being discussed by voters.
So he set out to shoot the message down and be damned to the fate of the messenger.
Of course in attempting this Turnbull created a Steisand Effect With A Twist - ensuring that the full text of “There's no case for a corporate tax cut when one in five of Australia's top companies don't pay it” has been copied onto websites he can't bully and the article's analysis is still being discussed by voters.
BACKGROUND
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/...abc-turnbull.../story-fna045gd-1226869241476?...
Jan 26, 2018 - COMMUNICATIONS Minister
Malcolm Turnbull says ABC board members who do not want to
get involved in ensuring news content on the public broadcaster is accurate and
impartial should get off the board. Revealing he receives hundreds of complaints about
the ABC each week, MrTurnbull said “the ..
Q&A:
Malcolm Turnbull phones ABC boss Mark Scott to complain about crude Tony Abbott
tweet
26 August 2015
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/...turnbull...abc.../ff6ad001ced93bb9c40eee1f4c839...
Dec 2, 2013 - THE minister in charge of
the ABC, Malcolm Turnbull, rang the broadcasters boss Mark Scott last
week to tell him he had made an “error of judgment” in teaming with the
Guardian to run revelations that the Indonesian presidents phone was bugged.
https://delimiter.com.au/.../watch-turnbull-implies-complained-abc-failed-nbn-coverag...
Feb 4,
2016 - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull appears to have implied
that he made the samecomplaint to ABC management that he has
previously made in public before the 2013 Federal Election, stating that the
broadcaster had "failed" to provide balanced coverage of the
competing National Broadband Network ...
Australian
Tax Office, 2015-16 Report of Entity Tax Information
This report contains the total income, taxable income and tax payable of
over 2000 corporate tax entities for the 2015-16 year. This report also
includes separate lists of entities whose information was not available by the
cut-off date to produce the Report of Entity Tax Information for 2013-14 and
2014-15.
Labels:
corporations,
economy,
government policy,
Our ABC,
statistics,
taxation,
Turnbull Government
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