“the very rich should focus less on philanthropy and more on paying their fair share of taxes”

Jason Ward

CICTAR Principal Analyst, Jason Ward is quoted in a Sydney Morning herald profile of Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt.

Here’s what financial analyst Jason Ward believes: the very rich should focus less on philanthropy and more on paying their fair share of taxes. Ward, the Australian-based principal analyst at the not-for-profit think tank, the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, has compiled Australian Taxation Office data on Pratt Consolidated Holdings Pty Ltd, the corporate umbrella for Pratt’s businesses, including Visy in Australia and Pratt Industries in the US. He says that in the 11 years for which figures are publicly available (2014 to 2024), the company had average annual revenue of $3 billion. “Yet there was zero tax paid in six out of the 11 years.”

How is that possible? “It looks like the business is structured in such a way so as not to make a lot of money on paper,” says Ward, who believes the smoking gun is a declared profit margin that averages just 2.64 per cent a year – far lower than would be expected of competently run enterprises. The sheer complexity of the corporate set-up also rings warning bells, he says. “I mean, it’s completely global. There are huge numbers of subsidiaries in lots of different jurisdictions, including lots of tax havens.”

Workers at Visy Packaging in Shepparton held a six-month campaign of rolling strikes in 2023, demanding a pay rise, which they eventually got. In Victorian parliament, Labor member Dylan Wight backed the strikers. “With corporate greed driving up the cost of living, these workers’ wages have gone backwards,” Wight said.