The federal government's war on tax avoidance by multi-nationals was a key part of its budget, but doubts are already being cast on whether it will actually raise much money.
Tougher laws, a new crime fighting taskforce, larger fines and shaming cheats were all announced in Tuesday's budget to tackle tax avoidance both at home and abroad.
However the government was unable to say how much money it expected to raise from the 30 unnamed multi-national companies the new anti-avoidance law is targeting.
Treasurer Joe Hockey said this week the government would seek to reclaim taxes from billions of dollars in profits sent offshore and that the world was watching Australia's legislation.
University of Sydney associate professor Antony Ting, a vocal critic of multi-nationals for using tax haven countries, said the proposed new laws might be politically effective but did not appear any stronger than current ones.
The onus was on the Australian Tax Office to prove that principal purpose of a multi-nationals' structure was to avoid tax.
BHP disclosed after a recent Senate inquiry that the ATO had so far ordered it to pay $522 million in taxes and fines related to its marketing hub in Singapore, which it has been accused of using to avoid taxes.
Dr Ting said the ATO had admitted in internal documents that the existing laws were unlikely to be effective against BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting).
"Multi-nationals will always find commercial reasons to justify their structure and have a lot of money to hire experts in the industry and tax experts to justify this," he said.
The ATO has been given $11.3 million in the budget to enforce the new rules outlawing transfer pricing, in which the likes of BHP, Rio Tinto, Apple and Google have been accused of booking Australian sales overseas and aggressively avoiding tax.
Those caught doing so will have to pay back the tax, plus 100 per cent of the unpaid tax again as a fine, plus interest.
"Families and small businesses are forced to carry more than their fair share of the tax burden," Mr Hockey said.
"Under this new law, when we catch companies cheating, they will have to pay back double what they owe plus interest."
Mr Hockey said the government was also developing a voluntary code that highlights companies that pay their fair share of tax and publicly disclose it - and those that don't.
The action is aimed at enhancing public confidence in the tax system.
The government said it expects to raise $419.7 million over four years through its Serious Financial Crime Taskforce, that will target tax evasion, along with other financial crimes and the black economy.
The latter will also be tackled by a three-year extension of the GST compliance program and is expected to raise $1.8 billion.
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