Who’s a dirty rotten tax dodger? Daney – GetUp!

Dear NEVILLE,

In shocking whistleblower revelations last night, ten foreign multinationals shifted $31 billion in revenue in one year to dodge Australian tax.¹

Among the worst of the corporate tax dodgers are the dirty old energy companies.

These big polluters pay nothing on their carbon pollution emissions and receive enormous government handouts – a whopping $1,712 from every Australian.² All the while, they’re shipping billions in Australian profits to overseas investors, with little to no tax paid into our economy to help fund our public schools and hospitals.

Well, their day of reckoning is coming with a Senate inquiry likely kicking off next week. But there’s a catch: if no one’s paying attention, it tells our politicians we don’t care and gives them little incentive to take action. These companies could walk away scot-free, while ordinary Australian taxpayers are left to pick up the bill.

So to show the Abbott Government we mean business, we’re doing an Australian first: placing the biggest ad possible in a major newspaper to draw attention to these critical Senate hearings. (We’re checking ad prices now and need to book soon.)

Click here to check out our ‘Who’s a Dirty Rotten Tax Dodger?’ ad and chip in to make sure all eyes are on the explosive hearings into tax dodging by dirty energy companies.

Here’s some of the dirty details we know already. Shell service stations paid $0 tax on $60 billion in Australian revenue over the past three years.³ And a group of multinationals, including Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, have allegedly arranged to extract $60 billion in tax free profits from the massive Gorgon gas project.⁴

Then, last night’s Channel 7 exclusive revealed that:

• Ten corporations sent $31 billion in profits to offshore tax havens to avoid paying tax in Australia;
• One corporation alone sent an enormous $11 billion in revenue from Australia to Singapore to avoid paying tax in Australia;
• Up to $30 billion in tax revenue is lost to Australia thanks to corporate tax dodging each year.⁵ That’s enough to eliminate the deficit and roll back the Abbott Government’s massive cuts to our schools and hospitals.

Last time we checked, Australian workers don’t get to ship their wages to overseas tax havens to avoid paying tax. Yet Treasurer Joe Hockey is hinting at GST hikes for everyday Australians, proving that when multinational corporations don’t pay their dues, we pay the price.

Chip in to place an ad in a major newspaper to call out the worst of the corporate tax dodgers and hold our politicians to account over their inaction: www.getup.org.au/tax-time

Mr Hockey can’t dodge immense public pressure to deal with corporate tax dodgers, but it all depends on how much we can crank up the volume on these Senate hearings. Let’s make sure that all eyes are on the tax dodging of the dirtiest energy companies next week.

Thanks for speaking out,
Daney, Mark, Nat and Alycia, for the GetUp team

PS – Today, the Senate committee investigating corporate tax dodgers handed down a damning interim report. The report included some key recommendations that would force more transparency on these companies and give regulators new powers to crack down on corporate tax dodging. Whether these recommendations get up will depend on how much pressure the Abbott Government feels to finally do something. If each of us chips in a small amount today, we can shine a big spotlight on the actions of tax dodging fossil fuel companies next week – but we need to act quickly to get the ad space booked. Click here to chip in

References
[1] Exclusive: $31 bn sent offshore to avoid tax, Sunday Night, Channel Seven, 16 August 2015
[2] G20 countries pay over $1000 per citizen in fossil fuel subsidies, The Guardian, 4 August 2015
[3] Shell pumped $20 billion a year from motorists but paid no tax, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 August 2015
[4] ATO looks into Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell’s $60 bn tax-free windfall, Australian Financial Review, 17 August 2015
[5] Exclusive: Corporate tax dodge, Sunday Night, Channel Seven, 16 August 2015