The pressure is on. After months of brushing off criticisms over his bungled JobKeeper scheme, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is finally facing a brutal reckoning over his government’s failure to recoup the billions of public support payments that flowed into the hands of profitable big businesses.
The full scale of the corporate rorting has now been laid bare. More than $13 billion went to companies whose revenue increased during the pandemic — almost $1000 for every taxpayer. According to the ABC, around 35,000 companies either doubled or tripled their takings while receiving the support payment.
The anger in the community is palpable, with the government’s unwillingness to claw back the money in clear contradiction to its brutal treatment of welfare recipients.
Now the issue has become so serious that Australian Taxation Office (ATO) commissioner Chris Jordan faces potential jail time if found in contempt of Parliament over a push in the Senate to release details of who got what.
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The push for transparency
Frydenberg has used all the tools at his disposal to try to make the issue go away. His friends in the business community have tried and failed to generate some positive headlines. Innes Willox, who represents the powerful industry lobby Ai Group, claimed on Sunday the scheme “was not designed to be repaid”.
But the issue has only gotten bigger, thanks (or no thanks) to Gerry Harvey’s decision to pay back only $6 million of the $21 million his company received during a year it made $1.1 billion in pre-tax earnings. The decision, and a bunch of absurd media appearances by the retail billionaire, has only aggravated people further. Why did he not pay back the full amount? And why was he paying it back now?
Behind the scenes, Frydenberg faces an even bigger challenge to keep the details of the recipients of the scheme secret. Independent Senator Rex Patrick has successfully brought a motion requiring the ATO to release the details of who got what.
The tax commissioner insists that releasing the information is not in the public interest, and would undermine confidence in the tax system.
Frydenberg has intervened in the request on behalf of the government, saying in a letter to the Senate on August 26 that releasing the information would breach “strict tax secrecy laws” and adversely impact “almost every aspect of government”. He also claims the disclosure of the information would “prejudice the commercial interests” of the businesses that received the payment.
Patrick has been scathing of the treasurer’s attempt to run interference in the process and has promised to refer Jordan to a parliamentary committee.
“Under no circumstances can anyone say the way in which public money is spent should not be public,” he said.
An ATO spokesperson told Crikey the commissioner now found himself in “an unprecedented situation”.
“The government has lodged its own claim for Public Interest Immunity in respect of the documents sought under the order,” it said.
“It is the commissioner’s understanding that if the government’s claim for Public Interest Immunity is accepted by the Senate, it will have the practical effect of relieving him of his obligations to provide documents in response to the order.”
Why can’t we see the data?
Ultimately the data could be released tomorrow if the government wanted it to be made public.
But JobKeeper has always been a unique scheme in that it was paid out through the ATO, not Services Australia.
Under Australia’s tax law, there are secrecy provisions that protect certain taxpayer information, including how much a person or company pays in tax.
But it is not clear as to whether this includes money given to companies via the ATO in support payments.
“Governments can be transparent about it, or they can seek to withhold it from the public,” ANU tax lecturer Daniel Stewart said.
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The $6m Jerry Harvey plans to repay could well be interest earned on the $21m paid in job keeper. Income for which he could easily avoid paying tax due to other deductions made as the cost of operating a business. (The same deductions he makes annually that help minimise or eliminate any tax liability).
Any way you look at it, repaying less than 30% of the jobkeeper he claimed, is unlikely to actually cost him a single cent.
Meanwhile the Coalition class war continues
David Heller writes for IA that: “Since cases have exploded in Sydney, the CEOs and spokespeople for finance capital have declared the fight against COVID-19 is too expensive and it’s time to surrender and accept that the “price of business” is mass illness and deaths.
National Australia Bank CEO Ross McEwan demanded that Victoria must declare the Melbourne Cup this year “Freedom Day”.
Kerry Stokes says we must live with COVID-19. Alan Jones warned again we were becoming a hermit nation and threatened WA Premier Mark MCGowan’s Western Australia would lose Qantas’ services if it baulked at mass infecting its citizens.”
Alan Joyce
It was Jones the toilet loiterer in fact that said that
On behalf of Alan Joyce, evidently.
The Australian system of governance prior to Morrison’s LNP elevation, a democracy. But now an autarchy. We have to stop believing in bullshit and accept our system of governance now one of un-restricted abuse of power. There is no going back for Morrison and LNP. To retain power they must and will continue to corrupt the fading illusion of democratic governance. They have no choice? Australian(s) however, still have a choice. However, after May 2022, the abuse of power will exceed, and the watching world, turned their backs?
Kirribilli is looking after Mascot.
The $6m Jerry Harvey plans to repay could well be interest earned on the $21m paid in job keeper. Really? Even in good times, one would be hard pushed to find someone ready to pay 19.8% interest over 18 months, but when the RBA cash rate is 0.25%, it’s astounding. Can you please tell us with whom you have money on deposit at this rate? I want some of that action.
Try looking at your credit card current interest rates. MATE!
Yep, B – Harvey’s favourite credit is provided via Latitude Finance who charge Harvey’s customers up to 25% interest.
The tax and spend reality Party will still be running the “where’s the money coming from” line in addition to the opening up ‘wedge’ that is being prepared right now.
Peta’s hubby is all prepared…….right Rupert ?
For those who are unaware of who is the tax commissioner and his background, look no further than this link it will explain the akin to money laundering Coalition scenario
https://taxboard.gov.au/about/member/board-member/chris-jordan-ao-commissioner-taxation
Sir Humphrey always said chaps were meant to look after chaps.
The NeoCons is full of chaps.
And in Treasury
Treasury is now an arm of the Coalition it has been totally compromised with KPMG advising the Coalition and being paid by us to do so.
As The Guardian reports:
Frydenberg started his career as an accountant with KPMG who are now the Coalition’s advisers on all things financial. Chris Jordan ATO Commissioner ex KPMG as I said, Matt Canavan’s brother KPMG, plenty more out there too
‘Big four’ accountants ‘use knowledge of Treasury to help rich avoid tax’
Experts offering advice on legislation they helped to create is ‘ridiculous conflict of interest’, says select committee chair Margaret Hodge
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/apr/26/accountancy-firms-knowledge-treasury-avoid-tax
Frydenberg and Morrison watching Yes Minister together has been very bad for the country.
I went to say unbelievable but nothing is unbelievable with this bunch of absolute crooks.
I know that the same corporate tricksters move back and forth between the big 5 or is it 4 now, because the ATO needs them to have any hope of understanding the accounting trickery they dream up for their clients but making one of them the boss of them ATO is taking it to a new level.
The Morrison Government is starring down the barrel of an election wipeout according to the latest from Roy Morgan Research
Very reassuring –
May 16 2019 Finding No. 7980 Topic: A special Roy Morgan SMS Poll conducted over the last few days shows a large majority of 66% of Australian electors think the ALP will win this week’s Federal Election compared to only 34% that think the L-NP Coalition will win.
Over the last three days of May 14-16, 2019 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 3,004 electors. Electors were asked: ““Regardless of who you have or will vote for who do you THINK will win the Federal Election?”
Yes you can never go by the polls I’m sure you would be most upset if Labor won but it would be good for the country I believe.
Morrison one primarily because of the preference flows from every unvetted Palmer candidate in every seat
Notjing at all to do with Shorten talking out of both sides of his mouth as well as his rear end trying to tell different lies to different groups, apparently unaware of the newly invented electricalated telegraph.
What lies ?
Are they of the same order as the cons on electric vehicles, stealing tradies’ utes. death of the wwekend, Labor “death taxes”, “pensioner-robbing franking credits”, railway station carparks, community development grants, sports rorts, women’s facility rorts, and the list goes on and on.
Or do only Labor lies non of which were proven count more than provable LNP lies ?
Setting a thief to catch a thief is well enough – until the thief continues their old ways.
They might have even gotten away with the Jobkeeper overpayments if they hadn’t unleashed Robodebt 2.0 on the little people….but they just couldn’t resist!
So as well as being heartless, vicious pr@cks….they are incredibly stupid as well.
Correct on all counts. Inept, inefficient & incompetent. Unfortunately, not incorruptible.
Never misunderestimate (™ ®Shrub the Lesser) the cruel callousness of the lumpen electorate.
The ‘Left’, and most decent people, in the UK during Thatcherism were certain that 1 in 7 unemployed would not be tolerated but they forgot that meant 6 in 7 were doing very nicely, ta very mooch.
Today’s leadership L/NP party seems to be reviving the well-practiced skills of pirates and buccaneers of the olden times?
How much more brazen theft of Aust taxpayer revenues will continue to disappear down the gullet of a number of Australia’s wealthy corporations?
I had the idea that this kind of thing used to be enough for the perpetrators to be hung then swung on the village-centre gibbet…
The only other possible explanation for the justification of the JobKeeper rort is that he intended it, with rank cynicism, to operate as a fire hose of public money into private bank accounts….Michael Bradley Crikey
Gibbets were on crossroads for maximum exposure.
A couple of comments:
1) Kudos to Andrew Leigh (Shadow Asst Treasurer) for maintaining the pressure in Parlt and on social media. The ABC is basically reporting what Leigh and Rex Patrick are doing.
2) Frydenberg’s inability or refusal to read the room is doing great harm to his ambitions for the Lodge, which must be hurting more than anything else
3) Sixty Minutes is going to bring it to national attention this Sunday night. Previews and trailers are already all over social media. Shit and fan will really start to crank up then and Frydenberg will be getting more publicity than even he would like.
4) Morrison’s knees will start to shake and some way of getting the money back will be found. Possibly by promising that ATO would retrieve it all but without naming the companies and institutions publicly, so as to protect their taxation privacy.