I was going to write a piece about the travesty that is the Liberals’ corporate tax cuts, only to find that the Australia Institute had done just that and much better than I could have done. Everyone who does not acquiesce in the takeover of Australia by corporations aided and abetted by the Liberal Party and their major shareholders, the Institute of Public Affairs, realises the assertion these corporate tax cuts will lead to more jobs and higher pay for those on lower incomes, is just so much horse manure.
The Australia Institute, in their detailed rebuttal, has developed a list of “14 reasons why the case for a company tax cut for big business has collapsed”. These are:
- Giving business a $65 billion tax cut means billions of dollars less for schools, hospitals and other services.
- The big four banks get an extra $9.5 billion; this after they have been shown to deficient in their corporate practices, to say the least. A bonus for criminal behaviour?
- The big winners are tax avoiders and foreign shareholders, not Australian shareholders, because of our dividend imputation system.
- There is no correlation between lower company tax rates, employment or economic growth. Historical and international data confirm this.
- Companies do business in Australia because they want to do business in Australia, not because of tax rates. Indeed, most foreign investment in Australia comes from countries with lower tax rates.
- Just 15 companies will share one third of the benefits of such a tax cut.
- There are better ways to create jobs and help the economy. Numerous studies show that investing in education is more likely to help the economy.
- The benefits are based on absurd assumptions, such that cutting company tax will cause multinational corporations to suddenly stop avoiding tax.
- When will the company tax rate be low enough to satisfy big business? Half of the corporations who joined with the Business Council in appealing to the senate, have paid zero corporate tax anyway.
- CEOs privately admit that the company tax cut will not increase wages or jobs. This comes from a leaked secret Business Council survey in which over 80% did not nominate higher wages or more jobs as their preferred response to tax cuts.
- If the tax cuts for big business do not start for over four years, why is there such a rush to pass the legislation.
- Despite the large size of the hit to the revenue base, it hasn’t it even gone to a parliamentary enquiry. What is the government afraid of?
- Even the government own economic modelling shows that the benefits are tiny even 20-30 years out.
- A large majority of voters don’t want these tax cuts to proceed.
More detail, and links dealing with each of these points can be found here:
http://www.tai.org.au/content/14-reasons-why-case-company-tax-cut-big-business-has-collapsed
Although I would agree with the above comments, one has to realise that the Australia Institute is simply the left wing equivalent of the Institute of Public Affairs. I am more inclined to listen to someone like John Hewson, not exactly left winger, who has stated a couple of times (I think on Q & A) that the corporate tax rate in Australia in not that different from that in many other countries when you take into account the various deductions that can be made under the present system. The present government’s arguments never mention this. As noted, quite a few of the large companies pay no tax anyway.
Jim,
I don’t think that is the case at all. The IPA is mostly concerned with ideology rather than evidence. That is why they, as an organisation, deny climate change, and they denied the fact that tobacco plain packaging would have any effect on consumption (it has). The IPA is simply a lobby group for big business that has infiltrated the Liberal Party, hence its inability to have a sensible climate or energy policy. The IPA is all for shovelling money to the wealthy and corporations, whereas the Australia Institute is not.