2016-01-28
Australia has this week joined 30 other countries in signing a new agreement to combat multinational tax avoidance, after the Greens supported the facilitating legislation on the final parliamentary sitting day of 2015.
"Australia nearly missed the chance to get started on this information-sharing project, which we know will put pressure on multinational tax avoiders," said Greens Leader Richard Di Natale.
"Greens negotiations with the Turnbull Government got the legislation back on the agenda just in time, so Australia could implement the OECD and G20 agreement this year."
The agreement will allow countries to exchange the tax reports of big multinational corporations, to expose tax avoidance tricks like international profit shifting.
"Country by country reporting is a great first step, but there is so much more to be done to ensure Australia isn't being cheated out of the tax dollars that help pay for our schools, hospitals, and other services the community wants and deserves," Senator Di Natale said.
"The Greens initiated the Senate Inquiry into Corporate Tax Avoidance, which has already put incredible public pressure on companies like Apple, Google, mining companies and the big accounting firms.
"We helped pass the legislation to secure country-by-country reporting and got the Turnbull Government to agree to two extra laws: ensuring Australia's wealthiest private companies have to disclose their tax affairs, and ensuring companies file detailed financial reports, instead of the increasingly popular more secretive version.
"There is a lot more that needs to be done and the Greens will be working very hard in this space to ensure that those big companies who aren't paying their fair share of tax begin to do so."