Greens’ $514bn ‘Robin Hood’ tax slug sparks business backlash
Proposed levies on excess corporate profits aim to help living costs, but industry leaders warn of losses to jobs and investments.
The Greens have unveiled a trio of super taxes they claim would take $514 billion from big companies and redirect it to everyday Australians over the next decade to stem the cost-of-living crisis.
But business leaders say the so-called Robin Hood reforms would make Australia a less attractive investment destination than Colombia and backfire on workers and consumers.
Announcing the reforms during a National Press Club address on Wednesday, Greens leader Adam Bandt said current laws were allowing corporations and billionaires to “hoard” profits that could have been redirected to welfare and poverty relief.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “It’s time to make the big corporations and billionaires pay their fair share of tax.”
“Big corporations across the economy have squeezed hundreds of billions of dollars out of the public since the end of the pandemic – too much of it tax free.”
The Greens plan to take three “big corporations taxes” to the next election.
The package involves a levy of 40 per cent on excessive corporate profits after the $100 million in turnover, projected to claw back $296 billion over 10 years, according to modelling from the parliamentary budget office.
Bandt said the policy would tax excessive profits but “will not take a cent from the pockets of Australians” who relied on returns from investments.
The Greens also plan on going after the mining and resources sector, proposing a 40 per cent tax on super profits of coal and mining projects, but excluding emerging minerals like lithium and nickel.
This would raise $107 billion and build on previous proposals from the Henry tax review, Bandt said.
Completed in 2010, the landmark review made 138 recommendations, including raising the 30 per cent minerals resource rent tax.
But most of the recommendations remain unimplemented, with a parliamentary committee arguing that “in imposing a significant new tax on mining, the Henry tax review failed to consider the risks to Australia’s future fuel and energy security”.
Bandt said if the recommendation had been implemented earlier, Australia would have reaped an extra $35 billion between 2012 to 2010.
“The last time the country tried to seriously tax the excess profits of the mining industry, these companies poured millions of dollars into advertising, forcing Labor to sack their own democratically elected Prime Minister,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean it was the wrong thing to do, that is exactly why it needs to be done. We can’t have the mining industry determining who is and who isn’t running the country and who the country is run for.”
The final big corporations tax announced this week was a “revamped” petroleum resources rent tax (PRRT) to “close loopholes” and raise $111 billion.
The Greens hope to rally support among voters facing rising rents, mortgages and food costs, but critics say the proposal will backfire.
In an interview with Sky News, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said if the Greens wanted fairer taxation, they should back the government’s “sensible” reforms for multinationals and superannuation.
“If they want to do something about ensuring that we have got a fairer tax base in this country, they really are getting ahead of themselves, I’ve got to say, putting up programs about what they might do in a year or so’s time,” he said.
Business Council chief executive Bran Black also slammed the taxes and believed consumers, workers and super account holders would “pay the price” despite the Greens’ insistence they would benefit.
“There is no such thing as a free lunch and this policy would lead to a mix of fewer jobs, lower returns for shareholders and higher prices for consumers,” he said.
Hiking taxes for big business would “make Australia one of the worst places in the world to run a business and Australians will pay the price with fewer jobs and less investment … it would make our company tax rate the highest in the OECD, with Colombia, Latvia and Costa Rica more attractive places to invest, hire, and pay tax”.
“We all want to tackle the cost of living but targeting businesses with huge taxes isn’t the way to do it. We need policies that help create jobs, keep prices down, and ensure our communities continue to flourish, without putting unnecessary strain on our economy.”
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