7 May 2015

Wrong tax priorities: chasing tradies, not multinationals

National has got its tax priorities wrong by chasing down Kiwi tradespeople but doing very little to ensure major multinationals pay their fair share, says Labour’s Finance Spokesperson Grant Robertson.

“National is desperate to scrape the tax barrel to get the books in the black next year, after failing to get into surplus this year. But its priorities are all wrong.

“While everyone should play by the rules, the Government has its targets mixed up. The focus should be on multinational tax rorts, not minor renovation taxes.

“National needs to target the big end of town. Major multinational corporates are avoiding tax on much of the revenue they earn here.

“A review of withholding tax announced today is all very well. But in reality all National is doing is signing up to a long-running OECD agreement that will take years to deliver anything tangible. There is no reason why we can’t take action ourselves.

“The Australian Senate is holding a full scale inquiry into tax avoidance by major corporates such as Google and it is looking to deliver results.

“The Australian tax office has developed a formula to show just how little tax is being paid by multinationals. This should be a focus for the IRD,” Grant Robertson says.

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