Publish What You Pay Australia welcomes Government’s proposal for greater corporate transparency and accountability

Publish What You Pay Australia welcomes the Government’s proposal for greater corporate transparency and accountability

The Australian Government has published details of its proposal for mandatory, global public country-by-country reporting.  This includes disclosure of earnings, profits, losses, number of staff and taxes paid (or not paid). 

When legislated, this will mark a world first in corporate transparency.

The legislation would require public country-by-country reporting of key tax and operational data by large multinational enterprises (MNE) operating in Australia.  Importantly, disclosure is required for every country where MNE’s covered by the legislation operate. 

These disclosures will help the public better assess whether a MNE’s economic presence in a jurisdiction aligns with the amount of tax they pay there.

The legislation would shine a light on how MNE’s manage their taxes.  Expose of aggressive tax practices will help end their use, ensuring tax systems are fairer.

This is particularly important for the mining, oil and gas sector as the resources being extracted belong to the citizens of the country where extraction is taking place. Citizens have a right to know if they are getting a fair share of the benefits of their natural resources, or if profits are being shifted by MNEs to avoid their tax obligations. 

PWYP Australia encourages the Government to strengthen its proposed legislation by also requiring project by project reporting for extractive industries companies. 

Enhancing tax transparency in the extractive industries is particularly important given the sector is one of the world’s most corrupt. Project-level disaggregation is important because corruption risks and tax non-compliance are higher at the project level. 

The Australian extractive industries sector is huge and has a massive global footprint. There are more than 700 ASX listed mining, oil and gas companies, and numerous non-listed Australian companies, operating globally.  The fight for a fairer, more sustainable tax system – both in Australia and globally – must therefore include a strong focus on the tax practices of mining, oil and gas companies.