CICTAR and allies make joint submission to Australian government consultation on proposals for Tax Transparency

The Tax Justice Network Australia (TJN-Aus), the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR), Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation (ANMF), United Workers Union (UWU), Public Services International (PSI), Community & Public Sector Union-PSU Group (CPSU-PSU Group) have made a shared submission to the Australian government on the crucial draft legislation to implement public country-by-country reporting (pCbCR).

The group notes that ensuring that all multinationals pay appropriate levels of taxation in Australia is essential to increase the funding available for the growing costs of health, aged care, and other essential public services. The group has expressed strong disappointment that the government has rolled back from previous drafts, which would have required full pCbCR. However, the submission expresses overall support for legislation while offering some minor and common-sense amendments for improvement. The group particularly commends the language in the proposed legislation which does encourage companies to adopt full pCbCR rather than reporting on the rest of the world as an aggregate figure. The group has made several previous submissions to Treasury and to Parliament with regards to the benefits of implementing full public Country-by-Country Reporting (pCbCR) following GRI 207 and did not reiterate those arguments again.

If the improvements suggested were to be take on board, and the legislation adopted with no further watering down, then the group believes that Australia will be helping to push forward the inevitable global trend towards greater tax transparency for multinationals and a fairer global tax system for everyone.

The full submission can be read HERE