The Editor, Canberra Times, 7 April 2014: I’m just so excited to hear about the formation of the ATO’s new 2,200 person ‘fraud-buster’ squad (‘Fraud-buster squad to go after unpaid tax millions’, Canberra Times, 5 April).
With nearly 60% of companies & 70% of mining companies paying no income tax at all, corporate income tax revenue as a percentage of GDP is at its lowest level on record, whilst company profitability is at record highs. And with 61 of Australia’s top 100 companies operating subsidiaries in the Cayman & Virgin Islands & Switzerland, it would seem that there must be a lot of upside from this initiative.
And how much healthier & wealthier would our nation be if foreign corporations like Apple, which has avoided more than $2 billion in income tax over the past decade, were required to make an equitable contribution to the country from which its obscene $9 billion in profits were derived?
– John Richardson, CLA member, Wallagoot NSW
Flat tax? with little or no exemptions?