The Northern Rivers Times
November 2, 2023
22 BUSINESS NEWS
ATO secures additional $6.4 billion from large corporates Australian Taxation Office (ATO) As announced by the Treasurer yesterday, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has secured an additional $6.4 billion in tax revenue from Australia’s largest business and multinational entities for the 2022-23 financial year. ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan said this record high result is a product of the ATO’s vigorous scrutiny and continued compliance intervention into the large market. ‘This additional revenue comes directly from our compliance intervention. It is an outstanding result that reflects years of sustained effort from the Tax Avoidance Taskforce to drive increased tax compliance by large businesses.’ ‘The Taskforce scrutinises the tax outcomes of the largest 1,100 businesses and multinational groups to verify that they are paying the right amount of tax, and has helped to collect, on average, an additional $2 billion each year from public and multinational businesses. Last financial year’s result is three times more than this.’ Around $4.4 billion of last year’s result is due to the ATO’s earlier interventions in the oil and gas sector now flowing through the system, positively impacting tax collections. This result largely reflects the ATO’s ability to capitalise on the success in the Chevron case, permanently
removing more than $40 billion of past and future. interest deductions for related party finance arrangements from the tax system. As a result, these large businesses are paying more tax and sooner. ‘Our intervention and strong commodity prices mean that some oil and gas companies are now among the biggest taxpayers in Australia. Some of the revenue is already flowing through the system, positively impacting collections now and into the future.’ ‘We have been planting these seeds for many years and this work is now bearing fruit with significant outcomes for the Taskforce’s compliance and assurance programs.’ ‘All of these results reflect the hard work the Tax Avoidance Taskforce has done to challenge tax avoidance arrangements. We will continue to hold public and multinational businesses to account to ensure they are paying the right amount of tax.’ ‘We have confidence that most large businesses are doing the right thing and meeting their lawful tax obligations. The community can be assured the ATO will detect and pursue those organisations that try to game the system,’ said the Commissioner. Since the Tax Avoidance Taskforce commenced in 2016, it has helped secure more than $27.7 billion in additional tax revenue from multinational enterprises, large public and private businesses up to 31 August 2023.
Gig economy, cost of living crisis and housing hostility: Young people are feeling worse off than their parents Monash University Researchers from Monash University are looking at the link between insecure work and how young Australians are navigating post-school pathways such as employment, income and housing. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified conditions of uncertainty and disruption in young people’s lives, particularly in relation to insecure work. Drawing on a new analysis of published and unpublished data collected for the 2022 Australian Youth Barometer, researchers from the Monash Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice (CYPEP) have found that young people are experiencing difficulties as a result of these disruptions when navigating many post-
school pathways in life. Anxiety and pessimism arise from a perfect storm of conditions that make it difficult for young people to navigate key steps along post-school pathways that are often seen as conventional markers of adulthood, such as gaining secure housing. Key findings from the 2022 Australian Youth Barometer found that: • More than half (53 per cent) of the young Australians surveyed believe that they will be financially worse off than their parents • An even higher number (56 per cent) reported earning an income from gig work in the last year and gig work was more common among Australians with a disability (41 per cent) • Eighty five per cent of young Australians experience feelings of worry and anxiety and pessimism
• Nearly all the respondents experienced financial difficulties at some point during the last 12 months, with nearly one-quarter experiencing food insecurity. This report unpacks these findings in relation to other aspects of young people’s lives, alongside wider national and international trends. CYPEP Director Professor Lucas Walsh says the research findings suggest that a growing participation in insecure work such as the gig economy is connected to education, finance, and young people’s perspectives about the future. “The connections between a young person’s participation in insecure work, such as the gig economy, and other aspects of their lives, are infused with a combination of scepticism and deep concern about the present moment, with a tempered optimism about their ability to navigate these struggles into the future,” said lead author Professor Walsh. “Current government efforts to enforce minimum pay and protections to employeelike workers on digital platforms are a good step, but a deeper change is taking place in which stepping stones to work and financial security available to previous generations are eroding, shaping young people’s
attitudes to the future.” “I’m looking for a different job, I think it’s just going to be a one-time thing for a few years. I don’t feel too motivated at all, I’m kind of just floating or directionless. And I think that’s the issue, but at least I have a job. I think that says something, there’s no real, like, vision for the future or any goal,” said a 21 year old male from regional Victoria. The CYPEP research shows that the main aspiration for young workers is to secure more stable employment, or at least a sense of control over their lives and their future, neither of which are available within the current conditions of the gig economy. “The gig economy is the tip of the iceberg that identifies the pressures experienced by young people and the broader loss of control that young people are currently facing in society, in a labour market that increasingly works against young people and puts them at a disadvantage,” said Professor Walsh. “The critical and connected understanding of young people’s experiences of work in this research highlights the need for an interconnected response as opposed to siloed approaches to housing, income and labour market policy.”
