Budget fix requires “guts”: business
Australians can’t all expect to be better off all the time and must accept the budget problem isn’t solved by hiking corporate tax rates, business has warned.
It comes amid claims mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are avoiding paying hundreds of millions of dollars in tax by channelling profits offshore.
Nine peak business groups covering all sectors of the economy are urging political leaders in Canberra to think past “short-termism” for a long-term plan to repair the nation’s finances.
The groups including the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Minerals Council of Australia and Australian Food and Grocery Council say the government’s rhetoric about a “dull” budget in May is worrying, and it should have the guts to pursue difficult budget policies.
Because doing nothing will leave the nation in economic despair and future generations with a $2.6 trillion debt to pay off.
“We can’t expect us all to be better off all the time,” ACCI chief Kate Carnell told Sky News.
Nor can the public expect hiking taxes on big business would help, given the corporate tax level was already high.
“Yes we’ve got to hit those companies that aren’t paying their fair share, but that doesn’t solve the problem,” Carnell said, calling for a long-term reform plan.
Labor says the business community is bearing the brunt of the Abbott government’s “chaos and disfunction”, citing the unemployment rate and subdued business confidence.
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Frontbencher Matt Thistlethwaite points to reports BHP and Rio have been saving more than $750 million a year in tax by channelling billions of dollars in profits from their iron ore sales through companies that pay virtually no tax in Singapore.
Labor’s plan to crack down on multinational tax avoidance was one area it was being economically responsible.
“I suspect the Abbott government didn’t even read (the policy) before they ruled it out,” he said.
But the government says while it hasn’t been successful legislating some policies from the 2014 budget, it will do so in “different ways” this time around.
“We have taken difficult decisions, and we’ll continue to do so,” parliamentary secretary Scott Ryan said.
