TAXATION – GOVERNMENT POLICY – AUSTRALIA

House tax change may backfire: HIA

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Original article by Robert Harley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 22-Sep-14

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has argued against the dropping of negative gearing of investment real esate. In a research paper to be released on 22 September 2014, the HIA said that housing costs would be increased if negative gearing was reduced without changing other taxes. Critics of negative gearing claim that it increases the cost of housing. The report found that stamp duty was the largest tax distortion on housing

CORPORATES
HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED, INDEPENDENT ECONOMICS

Tax review urgent, warns Hendy

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 16-Sep-14

The Australian Government has been urged to pursue a wide-ranging reform agenda. Liberal Party MP Peter Hendy has called for reforms to the tax industrial relations regimes. He argues that the domestic economy is vulnerable to a range of external shocks, particularly the uncertain outlook for the Chinese economy. He also says the Government should commence its review of the tax white paper immediately

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS REMUNERATION GROUP INCORPORATED

Mining tax deal delays 12pc super until 2025

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 3-Sep-14

On 2 September 2014, the Australian Government finally succeeded in repealing the minerals resource rent tax in the Senate, after striking a deal with the Palmer United Party. The superannuation guarantee will now not be increased again from its current level of 9.5% until mid-2021. It will then reach the 12% target set by the previous federal government in its mining sector tax plans by 2025. Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey says the Australian Labor Party could have averted the delay, which will reduce the retirement savings pool by $A128bn over 10 years, by supporting the repeal

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, PALMER UNITED PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, THE ASSOCIATION OF SUPERANNUATION FUNDS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNCIL, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Company tax uncompetitive

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Original article by Mark Ludlow, Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 20-Aug-14

The Australian Government plans a 1.5 per cent reduction in the 30 per cent corporate tax rate by the end of 2014-15. However, economist John Edwards has called for a more aggressive reduction in the corporate tax rate in order to make the nation more competitive internationally. Switzerland’s company tax rate of just 18 per cent was a key factor in CSL’s decision to invest $A500m in a new factory in that country rather than Australia

CORPORATES
CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20)

Swan admits MRRT revenue failure

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 19-Aug-14

The former Australian Government revealed details of its proposed Resources Super Profit Tax on 2 May 2010. However, a book written by ex-treasurer Wayne Swan shows that the mining sector was only told about plans for the tax several days earlier. Swan also notes that generous deductions granted to mining companies for investing in their mining operations were a major contributor to the lower-than-expected revenue from the minerals resource rent tax

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, XSTRATA AG

Tax relaxed on share schemes

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Original article by Fleur Anderson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 1-Aug-14

The Australian Government plans to wind back changes to the tax treatment of employee share schemes. The reforms that were introduced in 2009 require members of such schemes to pay their tax liability upfront rather than being able to defer it for up to 10 years. Start-up businesses in particular have been affected by the regime. The Government may replace it with some aspects of the employee share scheme regime that is in place in the UK

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, LOCAL MEASURE, ONLINE MEDIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Hockey’s budget hole heading to $41b

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1-Apr : 17-Jul-14

The Australian Government may face resistance in the Senate to its plans to abolish some $A4bn worth of tax breaks as part of its proposal to repeal the mining tax. Two independent senators intend to vote against scrapping the tax breaks, and the defeat of this measure would be another blow for the Government, which has already faced opposition from Palmer United Party senators to several other measures that are linked to the mining tax

CORPORATES
PALMER UNITED PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Palmer’s $9b bombshell

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1-Apr : 8-Jul-14

Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer on 7 July 2014 announced that its senators would vote against a further $A9.5bn worth of cuts planned by the Australian Government in the 2014-15 Budget. While agreeing to pass legislation for the repeal of the minerals resource rent tax, Palmer said programs funded with its revenue would be retained, at a cost of close to $A8bn. Similarly, the repeal of the carbon tax will not bring the proposed rise in the income tax-free threshold from $A18,200 to $A21,000. The total value of Budget initiatives now set to falter in the Senate is $A34bn

CORPORATES
PALMER UNITED PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Turnbull urged to take his $1m out of ‘vulture fund’

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Original article by Heath Aston
The Age – Page: 4 : 4-Jul-14

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey are leading a push to crack down on tax minimisation by multinational corporations via profit shifting. However the stance in the lead-up to the Group of 20 (G20) leaders’ summit in Brisbane in November 2014 appears to have been undermined by revelations that Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has an investment worth about $A1m in the Bowery Opportunity Fund. The entity, a "vulture fund" acquiring distressed businesses, is registered in the Cayman Islands tax haven. Turnbull’s stake is not in breach of any laws, but at odds with the G20 agenda, critics say

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20), CVC GLOBAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY FUND LIMITED, BOWERY OPPORTUNITY FUND LP, BOWERY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC, UNITING CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA, TAX JUSTICE NETWORK, GLENCORE XSTRATA PLC

Budget sales job failing

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Original article by Philip Coorey, Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1-Aug : 1-Jul-14

Some $A25 billion of the spending cuts and revenue measures in the Australian Government’s May 2014 Budget are likely to be defeated. Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson said that detractors who invoke "vague notions" of unfairness to argue against reform effectively want Australia to enter a slow decline. Parkinson addressed the Crawford Australian Leadership Forum, as did Malcolm Turnbull, the Communications Minister. Turnbull said the nation is overly-dependent on income tax revenue. He implied that the Government has not been sufficiently convincing about the need for reform

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL COMMISSION OF AUDIT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. CRAWFORD SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND GOVERNMENT