TAXATION – GOVERNMENT POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Miners fear tax grab by Labor government

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 1-Nov-18

Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland has warned that the South Africa-based miner may reconsider future investment in Australia if a change of federal government results in an increase in the sector’s royalties and taxes. Gold Fields has a 50 per cent stake in the Gruyere gold project in Western Australia, while its other local assets include the St Ives, Granny Smith and Darlot gold mines. Meanwhile, Fortescue Metals Group CEO says mining companies need policy certainty to continue investing in Australia rather than offshore.

CORPORATES
GOLD FIELDS LIMITED, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, GOLD ROAD RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX GOR

UK-style digital tax may hit local media

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Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 21 : 31-Oct-18

Britain’s proposed digital services tax is primarily aimed at US-based technology companies, but experts suggest that traditional Australian media companies and online classifieds groups could be hit if the federal government introduces a similar tax. News Corp Australia, Fairfax Media, Seek, Domain and Carsales.com are among the local companies that could potentially be affected by any move to impose a digital services tax. The government will shortly release a discussion paper on the issue.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, CARSALES.COM LIMITED – ASX CAR, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, GREAT BRITAIN. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, ERNST AND YOUNG, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

Labor flags flip on small biz tax cuts

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 12-Oct-18

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has signalled that Labor remains open to backing legislation to bring forward tax cuts for small and medium enterprises. He says a prerequisite would be that there is no impact on government funding for hospitals and schools. The tax cuts for businesses with turnover of up to $50m have already been legislated, but the federal government wants to reduce the tax rate to 25 per cent in 2021-22 rather than 2026-27.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Companies’ tax cuts on fast track

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 11-Oct-18

The federal government intends to bring forward a reduction in the tax rate for small and medium enterprises. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is set to announce that the SME tax rate will be reduced to 26 per cent in 2020-21 and 25 per cent in 2021-22. The full tax cuts package for SMEs was originally slated to take effect in 2026-27. The government began looking into fast-tracking SME tax cuts under former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, after it dropped plans to reduce the tax rate for large companies.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, INCITEC PIVOT LIMITED – ASX IPL

PM to sandbag seats with GST overhaul

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Original article by Andrew Burrell
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Oct-18

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is poised to announce plans for changes to the formula for distributing goods and services tax revenue. The legislation, which would provide the states and territories with an additional $7.2bn in funding, is expected to be put forward during the next session of Parliament. The changes will benefit Western Australia in particular, where the Liberal Party is in danger of losing up to five seats at the next federal election. The proposed changes will include the introduction of a GST floor of $0.70 in the dollar from 2022-23, which will increase to $0.75 in 2024-25.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

PM ups the ante on small biz tax cuts

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 21-Sep-18

Federal government sources have indicated that the Coalition is likely to seek to pass legislation prior to the next election aimed at bringing forward tax cuts for businesses with turnover of up to $50m. The tax relief for small businesses has already been legislated, but additional legislation would be required for the cuts to take effect earlier than 2026-27. Labor opposes a further reduction in the small business tax rate, but it could face the prospect of having to go into the election with a policy of reversing the additional tax cuts.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, CENTRE ALLIANCE, ONE NATION PARTY

PM’s $3.6b corporate tax cuts

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 5-Sep-18

The federal government recently announced its intention to bring forward previously legislated tax cuts for small and medium businesses with turnover of $50 million or less. The government’s preferred option for companies in this category is for their tax rate to drop to 25 per cent by 2021-22. Internal Treasury papers indicate that this option would cost the budget $3.6 billion over the four-year, forward estimates period. It would allow the government to achieve its self-imposed plan that tax revenue not exceed 23.9 per cent of GDP by 2020-21, a year earlier than intended.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Small business tax cuts miss the point

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Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 30-Aug-18

Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently signalled that the small and medium business sector will be the focus of his government’s company tax policy. However, Jeremy Thorpe of PricewaterhouseCoopers argues that tax cuts for the small business sector should not be a priority as such businesses generally do not need to be globally competitive. Grant Wardell-Johnson of KPMG agrees, noting that large companies deliver the great economic benefit from tax cuts.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ERNST AND YOUNG, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

PM dumps big business tax cuts

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 6 : 23-Aug-18

The Senate has voted against the Federal Government’s company tax cuts package, which would have progressively reduced the tax rate for businesses with turnover of more than $50m from 30 per cent to 25 per cent. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says tax cuts for larger companies will not be on the Coalition’s agenda for the next election. The government will instead look at options for bringing forward tax cuts for businesses with turnover of up to $50m that have already been legislated. An amendment to exclude the major banks from the proposed tax cuts was also rejected by the upper house.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, CENTRE ALLIANCE, ONE NATION PARTY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Senate set to dump company cuts

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 6 : 22-Aug-18

The company tax cuts package is likely to be rejected by the Senate, despite the Federal Government’s move to exclude the four major banks from the lower tax rate. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has signalled that she will not support the bill, including the amendment to exclude the big four banks. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has told crossbenchers that the tax rate for large companies will need to be reduced at some point, to ensure that Australia is globally competitive.

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ