Fine multinationals more than streaker: MP

Shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh has introduced a bill that would raise the penalty for multinationals' failure to hand over tax information.

A naked man runs onto the pitch screaming in front of thousands at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The penalty: $5500.

But the fine imposed on a billion-dollar multinational company not disclosing country-by-country tax information in Australia is $100 less.

That's the argument used by Labor's shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh for draft laws to ramp up penalties for failing to hand over required tax information.

Dr Leigh's private bill, introduced to parliament on Monday, would increase fines from $5400 to $270,000 for multinational companies who fail to comply with country-by-country reporting.

It would also trigger automatic audits for repeat offenders.

While admitting streaking was a bad look for cricket and a public nuisance, Dr Leigh argued the harm was "fairly brief".

"I venture to suggest that Australians are more outraged by multinational tax avoidance than they are a streaker at the SCG," he told parliament.

The higher fines wouldn't penalise smaller businesses, Dr Leigh said, because country-by-country reporting only applies to businesses with more than $1 billion in revenue.

"To a billion dollar company ($5400) represents 0.00054 per cent of global revenue," he said.

The disclosed information was vital for tax officials to know what companies were doing.


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Source: AAP


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