21 July 2017
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) calls for urgent reform of family trusts as yet more evidence surfaces of the rich avoiding paying their fair share of tax. New research by the Australia Institute reveals billions of dollars in tax revenue is being lost due to wealthy Australians using family trusts.
This is ripping a staggering $2 billion to $3.5 billion out of the economy, money that should be going to our schools and hospitals.
Workers are tired of shouldering the majority of our tax responsibility while the wealthy use loopholes to avoid contributing towards the essential services we all use and rely on.
It’s unacceptable that the 21.6 per cent of our national income which runs through 823,448 trusts, with assets of $3.1 trillion and income of $349.2 billion is being used as a tax dodge by the rich.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull must urgently close this loophole and genuinely act to fix the tax system.
Quotes attributable to ACTU President Ged Kearney:
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) calls for urgent reform of family trusts as yet more evidence surfaces of the rich avoiding paying their fair share of tax. New research by the Australia Institute reveals billions of dollars in tax revenue is being lost due to wealthy Australians using family trusts.
This is ripping a staggering $2 billion to $3.5 billion out of the economy, money that should be going to our schools and hospitals.
Workers are tired of shouldering the majority of our tax responsibility while the wealthy use loopholes to avoid contributing towards the essential services we all use and rely on.
It’s unacceptable that the 21.6 per cent of our national income which runs through 823,448 trusts, with assets of $3.1 trillion and income of $349.2 billion is being used as a tax dodge by the rich.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull must urgently close this loophole and genuinely act to fix the tax system.
Quotes attributable to ACTU President Ged Kearney:
- “Workers are furious about tax avoidance and who can blame them. This stinks of a sweetheart deal; people with taxable incomes of $500,000 or more account for just 0.43 per cent of the population, yet they make up 51 per cent of all trust distributions.”
- “The Government needs to genuinely act to reform the broken tax system that is worsening Australia’s already record high rate of inequality.”
- “Unfortunately it is unlikely the Government will do the right thing.”
- “Rather than fix gaping loopholes like this, Mr Turnbull continues to place the priority on getting his $65 billion corporate tax cut through Parliament. It shows how completely out of touch he is with ordinary Australians who are angry about the inequities in the tax system.”
- “That’s why we’ve put the Turnbull Government on notice. We are going to change the rules.”
- “The ACTU will pursue whatever community, campaign, legislative and legal mechanisms it deems appropriate to change the rules for working people in Australia in the pursuit of equality and fairness for all Australian workers, including in the tax system.”
- “The only way to fix the system and improve equality is to join a union and change the rules.”
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