Auspoll

“In this world,” Benjamin Franklin famously declared, “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” A few hundred years on, corporate Australia seems hell-bent on making a liar out of him.

Picture: Peter Nicholson.

Death is still holding out -so no need to fear a business-suited army of the undead just yet—but the taxman has well and truly been given the slip, with billions of dollars from the public purse funneled through loopholes, lurks and perks.

Treasury figures have revealed that over the last decade more than half of all companies paid less than five per cent of their total income in tax: a far cry from the hefty amount individual taxpayers are slugged.

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  • mark says:

    06:01pm | 14/03/10

    It is always entertaining to see the pro-business individuals, who cry “antibusiness!” when they detect even a hint of a suggestion that taxes should be better distributed. It is anti-taxpayer that the tax rates differ, despite the fact that both entities consumer community resources. Corporations need educated , healthy ,… Read more »

  • no porkies says:

    04:48pm | 13/03/10

    another bogus corporatist argument. companies employ only enough people to produce the amount of output they wish to sell. if you cut tax by 50k it goes into the owner’s skyrocket… don’t try to sell us some rubbish benevolence line. Read more »

 

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