The ACTU welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to this inquiry of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Multinationals Pay Their Fair Share – Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2023. Australian workers, their families and the wider community have an interest in a transparent tax system where all taxpayers contribute fairly to Australia’s revenue base. A fair and transparent tax system ensures that funding is available for the necessary public services and infrastructure that enables Australian workers to be prosperous and happy.
When multinational corporations use planning strategies to shift profits from Australia to comparatively lower taxing jurisdictions it undermines confidence in the Australian tax system; undermines the tax base, and therefore long-term fiscal sustainability; constrains the spending capacity of governments to provide services and support to working people; and unfairly places the burden of maintaining public infrastructure and services on Australian workers. Multinational firms that are engaging in profit shifting benefit from Australia’s infrastructure and public services in the ordinary course of their business in this country and should be contributing more and more fairly to the tax base that enables these public goods.
The ACTU welcomes the new rules being introduced by the Government to protect the integrity of the Australian tax system and improve tax transparency. The ‘consolidated entity disclosure statement’ and amendments to Australia’s thin capitalisation rules are small but important positive steps in shoring up Australia’s tax base and making sure that multinational corporations pay their fair share of tax.
