Category Archives: Tax

Australians told ‘do not travel’ to Lebanon – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed.

No move on paying super to people on paid parental leave

But so far, the government has not moved on paying superannuation to parents (mostly women) on paid parental leave.

Super, of course, is really important and it’s something we would very much like to look to in the future when the budget can afford it. But this is a very big step forward, the current arrangements, but we’ll continue to look around superannuation into the future and consider it in each budget context.

I think with the reserved period as well, we’re going to see an increase in shared care, both parents taking some time out, which is really, really important if we want to get a more equal burden of, you know, of that share of care.

So that is really important as well.

Continue reading...

Labor governments push for national road-user charging after Victorian EV decision

Posted on by

Treasurer Tim Pallas says refunds being considered after high court ruled charge was unconstitutional

Labor governments in three states are pressing the commonwealth to consider national road-user charging, after the high court struck down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax.

On Thursday the Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, said the government will consider refunding a tax paid by electric vehicle owners after the high court deemed it invalid, but suggests registration costs could rise or a national levy could be implemented in its place.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Pokies venues owned by AFL clubs claim renovations and pay tv subscriptions as ‘community benefit’

Posted on by

Venues owned by four clubs legally claimed a total of $8.6m in operating costs under Victorian scheme

Poker machine venues owned by AFL clubs have been spending millions of dollars in revenue on themselves – from kitchen renovations to Foxtel subscriptions – while claiming the costs as a community benefit to lower their tax bill.

Eight venues, owned by Carlton, Essendon, Richmond and St Kilda, collectively spent $8.6m on operating costs last year, legally claiming it under the state’s community benefits scheme.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

High court strikes down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax in ruling that could threaten other state levies

Posted on by

An array of state charges including waste levies could potentially be unlawful after court overturns 1974 precedent on consumption taxes

Victoria’s electric vehicle tax has been struck down by the high court in a landmark case likely to bar all state-level road user charges and expose other state levies to challenge.

On Wednesday, a majority of the high court ruled in favour of two electric car drivers who argued that the imposition of a tax by the Victorian government per kilometre ​driven was unconstitutional because the states do not have the power to impose such excise taxes on consumption.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Lidia Thorpe claims Anthony Albanese trying to ‘shut me down’ over voice referendum

Posted on by

Follow the day’s news live

Rain expected to ease over flooded regions in Victoria

The good news is no more rain is expected over flooded regions in Victoria, VicSES deputy chief officer David Baker told ABC News:

The big tap in the sky has been turned off. That’s great news for us. So what we’re dealing with now is what’s currently in the river systems that will need to flush itself through the systems. And we can assess that and we can manage that and put efforts in place to make sure that communities are out of harm’s way. So the good news is no more serious rain expected, and a pretty stable system, I understand, until at least … next week.

We estimate up to 130 properties may be impacted by the event, hence we issued an Emergency warning late yesterday afternoon which was renewed during the early hours of the morning.

It’s mainly homes in that area. Rural homes that may see what we call above floor inundation.

Continue reading...

Stage-three tax cuts: overhaul could save budget $130bn and deliver bigger savings to most workers

Posted on by

Australia Institute says its plan would let government lift jobseeker payment while still improving budget bottom line

The stage-three tax cuts could be renovated to save the budget up to $130bn while still delivering bigger tax cuts to 80% of income earners, according to the Australia Institute.

The progressive thinktank has released a report modelling four alternatives to the controversial tax cuts, finding they could save between $70bn and $130bn. Those savings are enough to lift the jobseeker payment to the rate of the age pension while still making a net improvement to the budget bottom line.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak claims putting reducing inflation ahead of tax cuts Thatcherite and ‘deeply Conservative’ – UK politics live

Posted on by

Prime minister says ‘the best tax cut we can give is to cut inflation’ after Michael Gove says taxes should be cut before general election

The BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is starting. As well as Rishi Sunak, Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, is also being interviewed.

Q: Do you still think we’ve had enough of experts?

Economic forecasting was invented to make astrology look respectable.

Continue reading...

Scrapping inheritance tax would cost £15bn a year by 2032, says IFS

Posted on by

Thinktank carried out analysis as calls mount among Tory MPs for the tax to be abolished

Scrapping inheritance tax would cost the government almost £15bn a year in lost revenue by 2032, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that follows calls from Tory MPs for the main tax on inherited wealth to be abolished.

The thinktank said the latest figures from HMRC showed fewer than 4% of estates paid inheritance tax (IHT) in 2020–21, but the rapid growth in wealth among older individuals meant this number was set to rise to more than 7% over the next decade.

Continue reading...

Australia’s wealthiest 20% worth 90 times the country’s poorest, new report reveals

Posted on by

Superannuation and property investment fuels growing inequality, with the richest fifth worth an average of $3.2m

Australia’s wealth gap has continued to grow over the past two decades, with superannuation and property investment driving inequality across the country, a new report from the Australian Council of Social Service and the University of New South Wales has revealed.

Over the past two decades the average wealth of the top 20% has grown at four times the rate of the lowest, the report has shown using figures from the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data in 2019.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Chief of NSW’s largest council wants developer tax to build swimming pools and libraries

Posted on by

Blacktown’s Kerry Robinson warns rates would need to rise by 40% to pay for community facilities for more than 250,000 expected new residents

The chief executive of New South Wales’ largest council is calling for a new tax on developers to pay for social infrastructure such as swimming pools, warning the alternative would be to raise rates in urban fringe communities by 40%.

The Blacktown city council chief executive officer, Kerry Robinson, said his council had “no funding source” for libraries or community meeting places to accommodate the more than 250,000 people who are expected to move into the sprawling local government area in western Sydney over the next two decades.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

PwC lost track of number of client privilege claims allegedly used to stymie ATO investigations

Posted on by

Consulting firm couldn’t say how many times its former general counsel was involved in privilege claims made to tax office, Senate inquiry hears

PwC Australia lost track of who prepared dozens of client privilege claims that blocked the Australian Tax Office from gathering evidence for its investigations, a Senate inquiry has heard.

Earlier this week, the ATO published a timeline of the PwC scandal that confirmed years of frustration at the firm over allegedly withholding information related to multinational tax avoidance.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

UK government urged to scrap 20% VAT on period pants

Posted on by

Campaigners say absorbent alternative to tampons and sanitary towels should not be classed as garments

MPs, retailers and charities have written to the government urging it to axe the 20% VAT on period pants, the absorbent underwear designed to be worn as an alternative to tampons and sanitary towels.

Period pants are classed as garments but campaigners are asking Victoria Atkins, who as financial secretary to the Treasury is the minister responsible for VAT, to get them reclassified as period products in the chancellor’s autumn statement later this year.

Continue reading...

PwC scandal: Australian Tax Office tried to get federal police to investigate in 2018

Posted on by

Tax office tells Senate committee it did not have the investigative powers to secure enough evidence from consultancy firm, hampering efforts to persuade federal police to investigate

Repeated efforts by the Australian Tax Office to convince federal police to investigate PwC in 2018 failed because it did not have “the investigative powers” to secure key evidence.

For the first time the ATO has published a detailed timeline of the PwC scandal that confirms years of frustration at the firm allegedly withholding information about how it helped multinational companies avoid paying tax.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Labor launches crackdown on tax adviser misconduct following PwC scandal

Posted on by

Government says it will increase penalties for promoting tax avoidance schemes and bolster regulators’ powers

Penalties for promoting tax avoidance schemes will be increased tenfold and financial regulators will get much stronger powers as the federal government seeks to fix “severe shortcomings” in the nation’s financial systems exposed by the PwC scandal.

In what the treasurer, Jim Chalmers calls, “the biggest crackdown on tax adviser misconduct in Australian history”, advisers and firms promoting tax exploitation schemes would face fines up to $780m, while red tape that hamstrung regulators from better investigating PwC will be slashed. The Treasury department will also conduct a two-year whole-of-government response to the shortcomings exposed by the disclosure of confidential tax information.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Tax relief system needs overhaul to prevent abuse, say MPs

Posted on by

Treasury committee report says tax system is too complicated and finds two-thirds of relief policies are uncosted

Almost £200bn of tax reliefs handed to businesses and individuals each year should come under greater government scrutiny to prevent fraud and abuse, according to an all-party group of MPs.

The Treasury committee said in a report published on Wednesday that “a systematic review” into more than 1,000 tax reliefs was needed after MPs found HM Revenue and Customs did not have the resources to monitor how tax breaks and deductions were used.

Continue reading...

Labor’s refusal to extend school chaplaincy tax deduction will cause cuts, Christian group says

Posted on by

Parents’ secular education group wants chaplains scrapped and student wellbeing officers employed instead

Australia’s largest supplier of school chaplains has labelled the Albanese government’s decision not to extend its eligibility to receive tax deductible gifts “disappointing and unexpected”.

Scripture Union Australia has warned the decision would probably result in cuts to chaplaincy services after Labor allowed its deductible gift recipient (DGR) status, previously granted by the Morrison government, to lapse.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

PwC Australia allegedly provided confidential tax law information to Google

Posted on by

Google, the first of the firm’s customers directly linked to the tax scandal, was not told the information was confidential and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the company

PwC Australia allegedly provided Google confidential information about the start date of a new tax law leaked from Australian government tax briefings, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

This is the first time a company has been directly linked to the national scandal involving the “big four” accounting firm that was revealed in January.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia’s budget surplus swells to $19bn due to surging tax revenue

Posted on by

Economist Chris Richardson says figure well above earlier forecasts is a reminder of ‘how lucky the Lucky Country has been’

The federal budget is on track to smash its earlier surplus forecasts as the government rakes in much more revenue.

The underlying cash balance for the 12 months to May was $19bn, well above the $4.2bn surplus flagged for the 2022-23 financial year in the last federal budget.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia’s leading super funds halt future contracts with PwC amid tax scandal fallout

Posted on by

AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, Hesta and Aware Super say they won’t enter into new contracts with the firm

Australia’s biggest superannuation funds have either frozen, or are reviewing, future work contracts with PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia, as the fallout from the tax leaks scandal proves costly for the embattled firm.

Four of the country’s biggest funds, AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, Hesta and Aware Super, say they will not enter into new contracts with PwC, after the professional services firm used confidential information obtained through its work for the government for commercial gain.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Victorian private schools ‘fear-mongering’ over job losses after tax exemptions axed, experts say

Posted on by

About 110 of the state’s top high-fee paying private schools will be required to pay tax on staff salaries, raising more than $420m over three years

Fears that stripping “high-fee” Victorian private schools of their payroll tax exemption will lead to job losses are a “red herring”, education experts say.

The change, revealed in last week’s state budget, means about 110 private schools will be required to pay tax on staff salaries, raising more than $420m over three years.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...