‘Australia set to take on the cockroaches of multinational tax chicanery’

"Michael West, in his inimitable style, reports on the efforts to pass legislation on tax transparency, and the corporate lobbying to water it down. With extensive quotes from CICTAR’s Jason Ward.

SC Johnson is an American family company which makes the Raid cockroach killer products; Windex sprays and Duck toilet flush liquid sachets too – you know, that blue stuff. And Tom the company treasurer was quick to point out the SC Johnson was merely a small family company, a private company and therefore deserved relief from the proposed new laws.

‘It is always these three, the three big moans: if you make us pay more tax, it will cost jobs, our prices will go up, and it means “sovereign risk” – good old “sovereign risk”, that is, that the flow of foreign capital into Australia would be imperilled by your laws!’

(However), as Jason Ward (CICTAR) says: “if the government does as promised push ahead with CbC reforms next month it will be a world first, benefitting not only tax authorities in this country but elsewhere too. 

Corporations that have created artificial structures to dodge paying tax in Australia – and elsewhere – will be exposed.”