Correction:
In an earlier version of this release the ACTU incorrectly asserted that BHP paid no tax in Australia.
We should have specified that it was BHP (AUS) DDS Pty Ltd, an entity with a taxable income of 4.8 billion dollars, that paid no tax in Australia.
BHP and its associated entities in Australia paid a total of $3,988,871,035 in tax on a taxable income of $19,178,967,459, or a rate of 20.8 per cent, $1,764,819,202.70 short of the 30 per cent company tax rate.
The ACTU regrets the error and thanks BHP for providing the updated information.
BHP’s report containing the figures referenced above can be found here: https://www.bhp.com/-/media/documents/ourapproach/operatingwithintegrity/taxandtransparency/191212_bhpatocorporatetransparencydisclosurefy18s3.pdf?la=en
Roughly one in three companies, including household names like BHP (AUS) DDS Pty Ltd, Shell, IBM and Goldman Sachs pay no tax in Australia, despite hundreds of millions, sometimes billions of dollars in income, according to data released by the ATO this morning.
Some of these companies are paying no tax while they are also setting up wholly owned subsidiary labour hire companies to outsource their staff and undercut wages.
It is unacceptable that massive corporation not only pay no tax but are then also trying to exploit workers in Australia, with the support of the Morrison government.
Instead of cracking down on corporations who under cut wages and make no tax contributions the Morrison Government has attempted to pass extreme union-busting legislation which would have shut down entire unions for submitting paperwork late and make it harder to win pay rises.
The news that $13 Billion in corporate taxes have not been collected comes as volunteer firefighters in NSW are crowdfunding so that they can buy the correct masks for their crews.
Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Sally McManus:
“Under the Morrison Government there is one rule for the big corporates and another for the rest of us. Most Australian workers’ pay a higher tax rate than our largest corporations. The Morrison government is allowing companies, many of whom are actively engaged in driving down wages and making jobs more insecure, to pay no tax at all.
“Every day that major corporations don’t pay tax is another day where Australia has less money to invest in the services we need.
“If companies had actually paid the 30 per cent tax rate they are supposed to pay then Australia could have increased NDIS funding by 50 per cent, raised Newstart recipients out of poverty, employed thousands more staff in our aged care sector, properly funded our fire services or any combination of good projects that the extra $13 BILLION would have funded.
“Instead Scott Morrison continues to allow massive companies like Shell, Atlassian and MYOB to pay zero tax and for the average tax rate for large companies to be only 23.8 per cent.
“The Morrison Government wants to de-register unions for submitting paperwork late, but when a company simply pays zero tax, the government waves them through.
“We need immediate action from the Morrison Government to make sure that all companies pay tax like working people do every year.”
