Meet Scott Morrison,
or ScoMo as he's affectionately known.
He's a cool guy. Check him out
He doesn't even care that his chino's are
getting wet
Scott's the latest Australian treasurer tasked with
trickling down jobs and growth all over Australia.
A few weeks ago we released our 7th episode
'The Undercurrent Guide to Legal Tax Evasion'
By the way thanks to everyone who's shared the video
Especially those who've used creative descriptions
Like 'man with strange badger beard explains tax dodging'
Or my personal favourite
'I have no idea what this video is about because
it's muted, but from the look of that beard I imagine
two of us from each state must volunteer as tribute'
Since the episode was released ScoMo has announced a series of tax reform measures
Designed to plug the almost $3bn black hole of corporate tax evasion here in Australia
Like his fellow treasurers around the world
Scott is trotting out the beloved
'Tax Reform Unicorn'
A beast with mythical powers strong enough
to fight Multinational tax evasion
ScoMo says he can recover $4.75bn of unpaid tax over five years
Yet we know from our most recent episode that even a conservative estimate of the tax avoidance
By just the top 76 Australian companies
amounts to $13.4bn over five years
So Scott's plan, at best, will be 35% successful.
And his plan to achieve that resounding success
'By a new operational task force
Of more than 100 specialist staff in the
Australian Taxation Office to police and prosecute companies, multinationals
and high wealth individuals not paying the tax that they should'
But like a horse with a horse with a horn
strapped to its head
Only part of this unicorn is real
Of the 1000-member task force only 390 will
actually be new positions at the Australian Tax Office.
The remainder will just be existing staff
who are already struggling to cover the workloads
of 3,000 staff that have been cut since 2013. And they'll struggle even more with an additional
1,700 that are slated to be cut by 2018.
And if you're feeling frustrated by now
Quick, run and grab a pillow to scream into
as we place this political impotency into
the context of
the government's signature announcement
The corporate tax cut
ScoMo feels that the best way to get corporations to pay more tax
is to cut their tax.
Over the next 10 years he plans to lower the
corporate tax rate for all businesses to 25%.
He later admitted that would leave a $48bn black hole
in the budget over 10 years
But in reality that black hole could be way bigger
Because the modelling behind the government's
tax cut assumes that $4bn per year will be recovered through
'wait for it'
corporations voluntarily ceasing
their aggressive tax avoidance strategies
An assumption labelled 'bizarre' by the
Chief Economist at the Australia Institute,
Richard Denniss
By law, publically listed companies are required to use
every tool at their disposal to maximise profits for their shareholders
The idea of voluntary corporate tax reform is a mythical
TurDuckEn
Or a 'MerGriffSquatch'
That's a mermaid, inside a griffin, inside a sasquatch
Named ScoMo
Our government's go out of their way
to protect and stimulate
the most mythical creature of all
'Job Creators'.
But we don't think they need help.
If you run a successful business, you already have a reward.
Profit.
And if you create jobs, you get a reward for that too.
The labour and effort of your workforce who help you generate those profits.
If multinationals can't operate without tax payer funded training wheels,
they should dissolve and go work for someone who can.
And governments who act hard in public but soft in private
might be in for a rude shock at the next election
