Why is the ATO losing the battle against multinationals?
Posted by John, September 2nd, 2014 - under Tax Office.
Tags: ATO, Australian Tax Office
This report, by Noel Towell, is in Tuesday’s Canberra Times.
Why the Australian Tax Office is losing the battle against the ‘transnationals’.
Global companies like Google, Starbucks and IKEA are cashing in on cuts to the Australian Taxation Office’s ability to make them pay their fair share of taxes here, an ATO insider has warned.
Click here to read more.
This echoes something I wrote in 2008 for the public sector informant in the Canberra Times.
I also wrote something about the ATO cuts in July this year on my blog called ATO to lose 3000 staff by October: what happens to revenue collections from the rich and powerful. I offered it to the mainstream media but none were interested. Good to see them beginning to get the message.
There is also this letter of mine a few weeks ago in the Canberra Times about the strategy of ATO staff cuts being to benefit the 1%. Scroll about half way down for my letter Cost of ATO jobs outweighs salary savings.
Comment from Lorikeet
Time September 3, 2014 at 8:12 pm
Yes, I fully agree, but I would add that a poorly performing taxation office could be used as an excuse to allow corporates to take it over.
I recently heard that church-run aged care centres are now bringing in corporate finance officers to help them screw both residents and workers.
I predict they will also be brought into the ATO to screw ordinary folk, while turning a blind eye to income tax evasion on the part of their fellow corporate mates.
Today it was interesting to listen to a corporate view regarding Tony Abbott’s changes to superannuation.
The woman said she supported a government funded PPL scheme and lots of women returning to work. (This depletes the government kitty instead of employers paying PPL themselves. It also helps to ramp up the glut of workers which holds wages down and deters union membership.)
She wanted an end to penalty rates also.
Another strange thing I saw today at the National Press Club was organisations supporting older workers using various elements of Agenda 21 to create an “Ant Hill” society i.e. everyone working until the day they die and living in very cramped high rise accommodation.
Sure, they had some good ideas also, but the idea that one should continue working past the age of 80 left me cold. It also failed to take into account the fact that younger people also need work and that the number of jobs available decrease with mechanisation and immigration.