OZ Annual Budget

Treasurer Scott Morrison forecast a A$37.1 billion ($28 billion) deficit in the 12 months through June 2017, wider than he predicted six months ago. His plan for growth: cut company taxes, boost infrastructure spending and provide income-tax relief. That’s assuming he remains in office following an expected July 2 election.


Inflation Focus

“I think there’s a number of factors” in the RBA’s decision to cut rates, Morrison said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “They’re all pretty much focused on the inflation side of things. They don’t, I believe, relate to any exchange rate issues. Glenn Stevens is doing his job, I’m doing mine.”
The RBA chief said Tuesday that the labor market, where hiring reached a record late last year and unemployment fell to a 2 1/2-year low in March, has shown “more mixed” indicators lately. Morrison’s budget forecast the jobless rate to drop to
5.5 percent next fiscal year from the current 5.7 percent, with the economy growing 2 1/2 percent over the period.

Net debt, meanwhile, is predicted to climb to a record 18.9 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year through June 2017, and rise again to 19.2 percent in the ensuing 12 months. While that compares favorably with the International Monetary Fund’s 69.3 percent forecast for Europe this year, the trajectory of Australia’s is worse.


2021 Surplus

Still, the government says it will balance the books. Morrison reiterated the budget will return to surplus by 2021 from a forecast deficit of 2.2 percent of GDP next fiscal year. In the short-term, Morrison plans to pay for Tuesday’s economic program through savings measures as well as higher taxes on tobacco and wealthy people’s pension plans.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ual-fiscal-monetary-shots-to-buttress-economy

can someone explain to me why s'pore budget is in deficit for the past 2 years when it is not even a welfare state?

FY 2015 Fiscal Position
D.2. For FY2015, our Budget is expected to record a deficit of $4.9 billion (1.2% of GDP). This is lower than the deficit of $6.7 billion (1.7% of GDP) we had budgeted a year ago.

FY 2016 Fiscal Position
D.3. In FY2016, total spending is expected to be $5.0 billion (7.3%) higher than in FY2015.

http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2016/pd.aspx#s2

Cutting company tax? Where the top companies dont pay tax? Cutting taxes to those on high incomes? And there is a wonder there is no budget deficit.

Cutting taxes is the worst thing to do in a deficit,just look at bush tax cuts.

cutting company taxes to help companies grow is a good idea. oz also have the same scheme as s'pore PIC, if you are a start-up, you can apply for grant.

krafty said:

can someone explain to me why s'pore budget is in deficit for the past 2 years when it is not even a welfare state?

FY 2015 Fiscal Position
D.2. For FY2015, our Budget is expected to record a deficit of $4.9 billion (1.2% of GDP). This is lower than the deficit of $6.7 billion (1.7% of GDP) we had budgeted a year ago.

FY 2016 Fiscal Position
D.3. In FY2016, total spending is expected to be $5.0 billion (7.3%) higher than in FY2015.

http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2016/pd.aspx#s2

Click to expand...

..i guessed lost alot in investment...so no choice...hv to said sthg to cover mah...only my opinion hor....

krafty said:

cutting company taxes to help companies grow is a good idea. oz also have the same scheme as s'pore PIC, if you are a start-up, you can apply for grant.

Click to expand...

Talk cock...the highest earning companies pay no tax hor....look at qantas...might as well give them welfare...if they say cut the tax and close all loop holes. Than it makes sense.

The_Hypocrite said:

Talk cock...the highest earning companies pay no tax hor....look at qantas...might as well give them welfare...if they say cut the tax and close all loop holes. Than it makes sense.

Click to expand...

who says qantas never pay tax? you are outdated.


The Qantas freight operation generated earnings before interest and tax of $38m in the first half of 2016 from its fleet of 14 aircraft.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...f/news-story/2b322615ed03764b994d55aa264391d7

http://http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/a-third-of-top-australian-companies-pay-no-tax-ato-figures-show/7038232

krafty said:

who says qantas never pay tax? you are outdated.


The Qantas freight operation generated earnings before interest and tax of $38m in the first half of 2016 from its fleet of 14 aircraft.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...f/news-story/2b322615ed03764b994d55aa264391d7

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Building more roads, building more schools and hospitals create jobs.

The_Hypocrite said:

http://http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/a-third-of-top-australian-companies-pay-no-tax-ato-figures-show/7038232

Click to expand...

your link leads to nowhere...

[h=1]ATO says 30 per cent of large private companies pay no corporate tax[/h] By business reporter Michael Janda and political reporter Stephanie Anderson
Updated 22 Mar 2016, 10:23pmTue 22 Mar 2016, 10:23pm
Photo: Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting was the largest private company taxpayer. (AAP: Tony McDonough)

Map: Australia

The latest instalment of corporate tax transparency figures show almost a third of large private companies paid no tax in 2013–14.
Privately owned companies earning more than $200 million in revenue were captured under the tax transparency measure, which picked up 321 firms.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) said 98 of those firms did not pay tax in 2013–14.
The biggest revenue earner not to pay tax was West Australian grain handling cooperative CBH, which paid no company tax in 2013-14 on more than $3.4 billion in revenue.
Among the other largest private companies that paid no tax in 2013–14 were:

• Pratt Consolidated Holdings, despite more than $2.5 billion in revenue;
• Thorney Investments, run by Richard Pratt's son-in-law Alex Waislitz, which earned $430 million in revenue;
• Hoyts, which had $417 million in gross earnings;
• McDonald's Asia-Pacific Consortium (MAC), the global supplier of the fast food outlet's beef, which had $478 million in revenue.

In a statement, MAC said the private Australian company complies with the Australian tax system.
"MAC completes annual Australian income tax returns as required and meets all the further reporting and compliance obligations that are conditions of its tax office agreement," the statement said.
"MAC also collects and fully pays GST in both Australia and New Zealand and is compliant with fringe benefits and payroll tax regimes in both countries."
[h=2]Some legitimate reasons for paying no tax[/h]However, tax commissioner Chris Jordan said that did not necessarily mean they were dodging their obligations.
"Having nil tax payable does not necessarily equate to tax avoidance," he said.
"Out of those 98 companies that reported nil tax payable, their associated entities did have over $700 million of tax paid."
[h=2]How much tax are businesses paying?[/h]
The Australian Tax Office has named 98 large private companies that paid no corporate tax in the 2013-14 financial year. See who's paying what with big private companies' tax details revealed.


There are more than 11,000 related entities associated with those 321 companies, but Mr Jordan said that also did not mean they were used for tax avoidance.
"A typical high-end private group does have multiple companies, partnerships, trusts and superannuation funds," he explained.
"But we aggregate the entirety of these private groups, so if they've got 50 companies or five, that doesn't particularly concern us because we just add up the 50."
There are several legitimate reasons why companies might pay no tax: even though they may have more than $200 million in revenue, they may not have made a profit on it; they may have had losses in previous years that they could offset against their 2013–14 profit; or they may have made business investments they could offset against their profits.
[h=2]Oxfam calls for tax crackdown[/h]However, some of the companies might be using tools such as profit shifting to overseas entities in low-tax jurisdictions to make sure a large part of their Australian revenue was not taxable income.
Oxfam Australia's Joy Kyriacou said Tuesday's report comes on top of ATO data released late last year showing that 40 per cent of large public companies paid no tax.
"It's time for the Australian Government to crack down on large companies dodging taxes," she said in a statement.
"These companies should have to justify their investments in tax havens, and be required to publicly report the taxes they pay – both in Australia and overseas."
[h=2]Rinehart's company paid $466 million in tax[/h]Overall, the ATO data showed those companies paid total tax of about $2 billion, plus $1.6 billion from associated entities.
The biggest taxpayer among the large private companies was Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting, which paid $466 million from $2.85 billion in revenue.
Other notable taxpayers were:

• Harry Triguboff's Meriton, which paid almost $76 million in company tax from $1.19 billion in revenue;
• Perron Investments, owned by Western Australian property and automotive tycoon Stan Perron, which paid $47 million from $484 million in revenue;
• Linfox, owned by trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, which paid nearly $34 million from $2.02 billion in gross earnings.

[h=2]Low tax take a reason not to cut corporate rates: Greens[/h]Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen told reporters the data was only made available due to Labor's multinational tax policy proposal, issued last year.
Mr Bowen said that the Coalition and the Greens joined forced last year to pass watered down tax transparency legislation.
"What we need to see is all companies operating in Australia paying their fair share of tax, which is the reason Labor has led this debate," he added.
Mr Bowen also dismissed potential company tax cuts as a "thought bubble" by Treasurer Scott Morrison, saying it was now "Plan Q" in the range of tax reforms.
The Greens' treasury spokesperson Adam Bandt said that "big business in Australia is getting away with murder" when it comes to tax.
"Now is not the time to be giving Australia's most wealthy companies a big business tax cut," he said.
"Now is the time to ask how can we toughen up our tax laws and get rid of unfair tax breaks."


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-22/ato-30pc-of-large-private-companies-pay-no-tax/7266454

http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-...ve-been-under-ato-review-20151216-glou3b.html


[h=1]Zero tax: Half of Australia's 1300 public companies have been under ATO review[/h] Date December 17, 2015


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-...ato-review-20151216-glou3b.html#ixzz47tAv3vQs
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

About half the nation's 1300 public companies that will have their tax details publicly revealed have been under review by the Australian Taxation Office.
Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan will on Thursday release the tax details of 1539 corporate entities – 985 of which are foreign-owned, and 554 of which are Australian public entities.
The results will show a high number of public corporations with zero tax bills – this is either because they did not pay any tax, had offsets against profits that reduced their tax to zero, or, they made a loss, which the Tax Office will report as nil.
How did you fare from Scott Morrison's budget? Photo: Gabriele Charotte

Out of 1539 corporate entities, 38 per cent did not pay any tax in 2013-14, 22 per cent incurred a current year loss, 8 per cent offset tax profit against prior year tax losses, and 7 per cent used franking credits and other offsets (such as foreign tax credits and research and development tax breaks) to reduce their tax.
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Since many multinationals have more than one "tax group" within the same company, the ATO has narrowed down the data to 1331 "economic groups".
Of the 1331 economic groups, 26 per cent did not pay tax in 2013-14, 14 per cent incurred a current year loss, 7 per cent offset tax profit against prior year tax losses, and 4 per cent used franking credits and other offsets to reduce their tax.
Many of the companies reporting a loss were in the mining and manufacturing sectors.
In total the ATO collected almost $40 billion in tax from these companies, before any compliance action. But once audits take place this figure could increase to $41.5 billion.



ATO Acting Second Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn said about half of the entities on the list "are currently or have been subject to some form of one-on-one ATO review over the past three years".
He said following reviews and audits, the ATO raises about $2 billion in liabilities and $1.5 billion in collections from this large business segment every year.
The ATO's list is the result of tax disclosure laws passed under the former Labor government that require the Commissioner to publish the tax details of public and private companies with $100 million or more annual turnover.
The laws were watered down by the Coalition government following intense lobbying from those in business and tax circles to remove private companies from the reporting requirements.
But then the Greens struck a last-minute deal with Treasurer Scott Morrison that will see the tax details of about 300 private companies published.
Mr Hirschhorn said that the details of those 300 private companies would be published some time in March.
He said Thursday's list of public companies was aimed to give the public a more transparent picture of the taxes multinationals pay, and it would include income, taxable income (taxable profit) and tax paid.
There may be legitimate reasons why companies have no tax payable. "Nil tax payable does not equal tax avoidance," he said.
But there were still going to be companies that raised red flags. "There are some companies on the list – both tax paying and non-tax paying that we will be looking at more closely," he said.
The ATO said about 63 per cent of all ASX-listed companies reported a loss to their shareholders in the 2013-14 financial year.
Of the ASX 500 – similar to the Australian public entities included in the ATO's list – between 20 per cent to 30 per cent of companies reported a net loss in 2013-14.
Mr Hirschorn said the ATO had analysed data over 10 years and in any given year about 20 per cent of the ASX 500 had made an accounting loss. "That's higher than most would expect," he said.
The data also shows splits by industry. Energy and resources were the sectors that had the highest level of nil tax (both Australian-owned and foerign-owned), followed by manufacturing (Australian-owned) and banking and finance (foreign-owned).
The high percentage of people in mining who paid no tax in 2013-14 reflected conditions in the Australian economy, Mr Hirschorn said.
"At a macro level that makes sense as commodity prices came down but the Australian dollar was still high," he said. "And manufacturing was pretty hard [that year]."
If companies were starting up or investing heavily, and did not have much income, they also may not have a taxable profit in that year, he said.
In terms of companies that did not have a significant permanent establishment (a physical location) in Australia – and therefore Australia had no or little taxing rights – Mr Hirschorn said the company would sometimes have a subsidiary. That subsidiary may be the subject of tough anti-avoidance laws introduced under former treasurer Joe Hockey.
It was hoped those laws, which take force in January, would bring those foreign companies into the normal tax net, Mr Hirschorn said. "We are expecting many companies to restructure [ahead of the laws] and we're already in discussions with these companies – you can expect to see many of them on the list for the 2016-17 year," he said.
"On the whole large companies are paying the right amount of tax."
The Tax Office has been settling more cases with large business. Its own figures show the ATO struck deals worth almost $3 billion with large businesses rather than heading for court last financial year.
"We're trying to be very purposeful on the cases we take to litigation," Mr Hirschorn said.
The ATO had some big wins, such as the Chevron case, he said, but transfer pricing cases were often "long expensive cases to run".
There are about 1.1 million companies operating in Australia. The ATO's public groups and international team monitors about 31,000 corporate entities that pay about 70 per cent of all company tax.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-...ato-review-20151216-glou3b.html#ixzz47tAkEYri
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

krafty said:

can someone explain to me why s'pore budget is in deficit for the past 2 years when it is not even a welfare state?

FY 2015 Fiscal Position
D.2. For FY2015, our Budget is expected to record a deficit of $4.9 billion (1.2% of GDP). This is lower than the deficit of $6.7 billion (1.7% of GDP) we had budgeted a year ago.

FY 2016 Fiscal Position
D.3. In FY2016, total spending is expected to be $5.0 billion (7.3%) higher than in FY2015.

http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2016/pd.aspx#s2

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Too much spending on white elephants.