4 ms·

They've got thieving from the Australian public down to a fine art, gotta hand it to em.

stephen_g 7y ago
It is insane how little royalties we impose on the big resources companies. But at least Rio Tinto and BHP pay a decent amount of company tax. It’s the offshore owned ones that pay almost no tax (Glencore, Chevron, British Gas, Exxon, Energy Australia, Peabody, Chevron, etc.). Investigative journalist Michael West has a good rundown of the top 40 companies that manage to make huge amounts of income but manage to reduce their taxable income to crazily low levels to avoid paying tax - https://www.michaelwest.com.au/tax-dodgers/ https://www.michaelwest.com.au/tax-dodgers/ - a lot of resource/energy companies there!
- BLKNSLVR 7y ago
  Just going further and further off-topic here, but it's so depressing contrasting that list against what Australian politicians actually treat as important issues in regards to the Australian economy. But then, what would one expect when the Australian Prime Minister (at the time) was one of the names in the Panama Papers listing investors making use of complex offshore shell companies registered in tax havens for the purposes of avoiding local tax law. Also, Foxtel! $0 in tax on $6 billion total income. I guess that covers all the Australian pirates' share of GoT downloads.
  - fit2rule 7y ago
    Australian politics is among the most duplicitous in the world. The Australian people have a long history of letting their ruling classes get away with murder - pillage of the land is nothing in a country founded on genocide. I used to think it was an annoying joke that, when confronted with the fact of my Australian heritage, my American and British colleagues would .. 'jokingly' .. refer to me as a criminal from the prison down under. Now, in my more mature years, I see "Australia, land of criminals" more as a cynical truth, quite as a matter of fact. Australians don't care that their land is being mistreated by massive robots run by multi-national, quasi-sovereign entities - as long as there are avocados to smash ..
BLKNSLVR 7y ago
I believe the Government(s) of Australia have facilitated the thievery rather than preventing it.
- oska 7y ago
  Pretty much, except for Gough Whitlam and he got removed in suspicious circumstances (involvement from the British Establishment including the Queen and rumoured involvement by the CIA).
  - fit2rule 7y ago
    The CIA's involvement in the Whitlam fiasco is no rumour - it has been broadly acknowledged, in fact. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/23/gough-whitlam-1975-coup-ended-australian-independence https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/23/gough-... "Our man, Kerr...": no nation has fallen so hard on such little breath. https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/cia-declassifies-report-on-the-man-who-ousted-the-austr-1788250088 https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/cia-declassifies-report-on-t...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- Joakal 7y ago
  It's a good business decision to save billions with a few millions. I question whether any democracy system is able to handle this.

It is insane how little royalties we impose on the big resources companies. But at least Rio Tinto and BHP pay a decent amount of company tax. It’s the offshore owned ones that pay almost no tax (Glencore, Chevron, British Gas, Exxon, Energy Australia, Peabody, Chevron, etc.). Investigative journalist Michael West has a good rundown of the top 40 companies that manage to make huge amounts of income but manage to reduce their taxable income to crazily low levels to avoid paying tax - https://www.michaelwest.com.au/tax-dodgers/ https://www.michaelwest.com.au/tax-dodgers/ - a lot of resource/energy companies there!

BLKNSLVR 7y ago
Just going further and further off-topic here, but it's so depressing contrasting that list against what Australian politicians actually treat as important issues in regards to the Australian economy. But then, what would one expect when the Australian Prime Minister (at the time) was one of the names in the Panama Papers listing investors making use of complex offshore shell companies registered in tax havens for the purposes of avoiding local tax law. Also, Foxtel! $0 in tax on $6 billion total income. I guess that covers all the Australian pirates' share of GoT downloads.
- fit2rule 7y ago
  Australian politics is among the most duplicitous in the world. The Australian people have a long history of letting their ruling classes get away with murder - pillage of the land is nothing in a country founded on genocide. I used to think it was an annoying joke that, when confronted with the fact of my Australian heritage, my American and British colleagues would .. 'jokingly' .. refer to me as a criminal from the prison down under. Now, in my more mature years, I see "Australia, land of criminals" more as a cynical truth, quite as a matter of fact. Australians don't care that their land is being mistreated by massive robots run by multi-national, quasi-sovereign entities - as long as there are avocados to smash ..

BLKNSLVR 7y ago

I believe the Government(s) of Australia have facilitated the thievery rather than preventing it.

oska 7y ago
Pretty much, except for Gough Whitlam and he got removed in suspicious circumstances (involvement from the British Establishment including the Queen and rumoured involvement by the CIA).
- fit2rule 7y ago
  The CIA's involvement in the Whitlam fiasco is no rumour - it has been broadly acknowledged, in fact. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/23/gough-whitlam-1975-coup-ended-australian-independence https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/23/gough-... "Our man, Kerr...": no nation has fallen so hard on such little breath. https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/cia-declassifies-report-on-the-man-who-ousted-the-austr-1788250088 https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/cia-declassifies-report-on-t...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Joakal 7y ago
It's a good business decision to save billions with a few millions. I question whether any democracy system is able to handle this.