US business giants ask Trump to bully Australia into dropping new tax transparency laws. CICTAR says ‘no credible evidence’ to back up their concerns.

A number of media outlets have reported on the lobbying by America’s most powerful business groups, pushing the Trump administration to press Australia to back down on tax laws that force the public disclosure of financial information. Tax laws that CICTAR was instrumental in bringing into force.

A coalition of nine business groups has written to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to complain that the corporate transparency laws are putting American multinationals at a competitive disadvantage. The new pCbCR rules developed by the Australian Labour Government set new global standards for corporate transparency. mandating the public disclosure of tax and revenue information for all multinationals operating in Australia, including US companies. CICTAR’s Jason Ward is quoted extensively in the Australian Financial Review, questioning the motivation and basis for these complaints:

“It is unfortunate that the these US corporate lobby groups, representing the
world’s largest tax dodgers, are making a last-ditch effort to get the Trump
administration to oppose Australia’s world-class multinational tax transparency
legislation,”

“Throughout the extensive period of consultation and debate there has not been
any credible evidence put forward to substantiate claims that greater tax transparency will harm the competitiveness of US or any other multinational
corporations.”

“It is clear that most large US multinationals would prefer to keep the scale and
location of massive profit shifting out of the public eye.”

The story is also covered in Law360 and The Australian