Oxfam Australia has praised the Albanese Government’s world-leading corporate tax transparency legislation, saying it will help reduce tax avoidance in Australia and abroad, and help ensure big corporations pay their fair share of tax.
Quotes attributable to Lyn Morgain, Chief Executive, Oxfam Australia:
“Global tax dodging is costing Australia and starving low-income countries of much needed funds for development. This legislation will expose global corporations shifting profits to tax havens and thus go a long way to stopping this unacceptable behaviour.”
“Tax dodging is depriving some of the world’s poorest people access to essential services such as education, health, clean water, and sanitation. While often tax avoidance is not illegal due to the failures of our global economic system, it is plainly unethical.”
“The legislation will make waves across the globe in exposing corporate tax avoidance. This leadership by the Albanese Government is to be applauded.”
“The lack of transparency over what profits are made and what taxes are paid by global corporations in every country in which they operate has made it hard to hold big corporations to account for dodgy behaviour and ensure they pay their fair share of tax to lift people out of poverty.”
“Tax is crucial for governments to afford the services we all need and cherish, like quality healthcare and education, a strong social safety net to alleviate poverty and aid to our Asia Pacific neighbours. This legislation will likely restore billions in tax funds to the government at a time when we desperately need it.”
“For too long powerful global corporations and super-rich individuals have exploited failures in the global economic system that allows them to avoid paying their fair share of tax. And it’s the world’s poorest people who pay the price.”
“Today extreme wealth and extreme poverty are rising. There are 11 more billionaires in Australia now than before the COVID-19 crisis. This is being fueled by an epidemic of tax evasion and avoidance across the world.”
Background:
Since 2014, a huge number of documents – including the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers scandals – have been leaked by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) unveiling how tax evasion and avoidance have become standard business practice across the globe.
Through a complex and loosely regulated tax system, multinational companies and rich individuals actively seek to increase their profits by storing them offshore and avoiding paying taxes in their countries. Tax havens are at the heart of this system. They allow massive amounts of wealth to flow untaxed and in secret, out of reach from tax authorities and regulators.
Oxfam Australia has been pivotal in drawing attention to this issue through our reports that showed how Australian companies have been dodging tax, including through use of tax havens.
Read our reports:
“The Hidden Billions – How Tax Havens Impact Lives At Home And Abroad”
For interviews, contact Lucy Brown on 0478 190 099/ lucyb@oxfam.org.au
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