Legislation to toughen up Australia's laws against tax avoidance and profit shifting passed the Parliament last night.
The Tax Laws Amendment (Countering Tax Avoidance and Multinational Profit Shifting) Bill 2013 strengthens the general anti avoidance rule, known as Part IVA, and the Transfer Pricing regime, and will protect at least $1 billion of revenue a year.
"Tackling tax avoidance and multinational profit shifting is a key priority for the Gillard Government," said Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury.
"These amendments strengthen our laws and give the ATO the powers it needs to crack down on tax avoidance.
"The Coalition, however, voted against these measures. In fact, they have voted against every piece of legislation that we have brought to the Parliament to close loopholes in our corporate tax system.
"This is despite Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey last night declaring:
We need to ensure that globally operating companies pay their fair share of tax in each of the jurisdictions in which they operate.
[SPEECH – 25 JUNE 2013]
"Senior figures within the Coalition are happy to advocate for an increase to the GST but they won't support sensible legislation to stop multinational companies from shifting their profits out of Australia.
"These amendments are part of our broader agenda to close corporate tax loopholes. We announced a package of measures as part of the Budget to clamp down on abuses of the tax system by large corporates and high wealth individuals and the Treasurer has placed this on the agenda for the G20 Finance Ministers meeting.
"The Gillard Government will continue to pursue sensible measures to protect Australia's revenue base and crackdown on the practices of profit shifting and aggressive tax minimisation."