Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance - Australia

What, are the pollies actually going to do something this time? Not just more bluster and rhetoric?

Interestingly, large multinational companies could find themselves on the senate floor justifying their tax arrangement to the Australian people.

Forty of Australia's biggest companies will be asked to explain their tax affairs to a Senate committee investigating corporate tax avoidance. 

Companies shown, in a recent report, to have the lowest "effective tax rate" over the past decade and to operate the most subsidiaries in tax havens have been given the chance to outline their tax strategies before the committee decides which corporate leaders to call in to appear before public hearings. 

The Senate can subpoena witnesses and committee chairman Sam Dastyari has vowed to use that power if the inquiry encounters resistance from big business. 

Companies that will be invited to explain their persistently low tax contributions, according to the report, include shopping centre company Westfield, building products firm James Hardie, motorway group Transurban, Sydney Airport, Telstra, SingTel and Echo Entertainment, owner of Sydney's Star casino. 

The Greens, who led the push to form the tax inquiry, have vowed to call multinationals Apple, Google and Swiss-based miner Glencore to face questions about their tax contribution to Australia. Read more