Greens voice support for two-tiered corporate tax rate as Government considers budget plans

Updated

The Greens are offering the Federal Government support to introduce a two-tiered corporate tax system in Australia, as long as it acts on tax avoidance and profit shifting.

The Government is hoping a small business tax cut of at least 1.5 per cent will help to refocus the economic debate in the lead-up to this year's federal budget.

But not many other details have been announced and that is raising questions about whether big businesses will also get relief in this year's budget.

"We are not averse to the idea of a two-tiered tax system so that small business, which is the real driver of jobs in the economy, gets consideration," Greens leader Christine Milne told AM.

"We're not dogmatic about what that tax cut to small business might look like but we are very strong about the Government bringing forward the tax avoidance measures.

"There's no reason why businesses should not be forced to declare their subsidiaries so you can see where they are shifting profits, where they are trying to dodge their tax."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's now scrapped paid parental leave (PPL) scheme was to be funded, in part, by a 1.5 per cent levy on businesses earning over $5 million in taxable income.

The levy was to be offset by a cut in the corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 28.5 per cent this July.

There is now significant uncertainty about whether the PPL levy will be retained to help pay for another key part of the Government's agenda for 2015 — a families and childcare package.

Senator Milne said the Greens would support the retention of the levy, especially if the Government went ahead with its election promise to drop the company tax rate for all incorporated businesses.

"There's a 30 per cent tax level in place for big businesses, that should stay," she said.

"We would like to see the tax burden fall on the people who can pay and that's big business, but we want to see that all the avoidance measures are removed as well."

Topics: government-and-politics, tax, australian-greens, federal-government, budget, australia

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