TECH giants act socially irresponsibly and don’t pay their fair share of tax, according to Member for Mallee Anne Webster.
Dr Webster said multinational companies avoided paying tax in some countries by using tax havens or favourable regimes, thereby depriving countries like Australia of tax revenue.
In Federal Parliament last Wednesday, the Nationals MP highlighted “glaring” examples of where multinational companies have “ruined Australia businesses”.
“A rapidly growing share of shopping and trade now occurs through a multinational company’s online platform or business,” Dr Webster said.
“When a multinational company avoids paying their fair share of tax, Australian families and small businesses are forced to carry the burden.”
Dr Webster said Facebook claimed it paid 30 per cent corporate income tax. However, she said that’s on what they report to be Australian revenue.
“Facebook paid just over $30 million tax in Australia in 2021-22, the most recently available reporting year,” she said. “That’s just 2.6 per cent of their Australian annual revenue of $1.15 billion in the last reporting year.
“They claim 91 per cent of their income was not taxable. Google earned $1.8 billion in Australian revenue but paid just $90 million in tax, an effective tax rate of 4.8 per cent. They claimed that 80 per cent of their revenue wasn’t taxable.
“Microsoft was worse, earning $6.3 billion in revenue in Australia but claiming 93.6 per cent of its revenue was not taxable – resulting in them paying just $120 million, or 1.9 per cent, effective tax on gross profits.
“Believe it or not, there is a worse offender: Apple, which earned $9.3 billion on Australian shores yet paid just $137.3 million in tax – which was only 1.5 per cent of their Australian revenues.”
Dr Webster said there was a lack of social responsibility portrayed by the tech giants in society and economy.
“There is a shocking level of scams through social media, Google and the internet,” she said.
“In my electorate of Mallee, constituents have come to me dismayed at being scammed; in fact, I’ve been scammed myself recently.
“While the government is taking some action in this area, I would like to see strong action to prevent vulnerable people from being exploited by scammers.”
The tech giants were also killing traditional forms of advertising, Dr Webster said.
“Streaming services like Netflix have slashed free-to-air television viewership, forcing Australian television networks to speed up the rollout of their digital television on-demand services,” she said.
“Teenage television viewership has reportedly fallen from 75 minutes a day in 2011 to just 13 minutes, according to Free TV.
“Live streaming is now 20 per cent of all free-to-air viewing, and that percentage is rising. Many new homes do not even bother installing an aerial.
“Local radio and newspapers are struggling as well. As non-government broadcasters, they rely on advertising revenue.
“They are rapidly failing due to the tech giants monstering the advertising industry.”
Dr Webster said she was concerned about the growing foreign influence of the tech giants.
“Australians are spending so many hours of the day on these tech giants’ platforms with their thoughts being directed by foreign influences, not our own,” she said. “Australians are shown political content from, say, the United States in preference to Australia.
“I believe our political literacy in Australia is at an all-time low.
“Social media algorithms give users more of what they are already looking at or talking about, thanks to the corporate surveillance of your own phone, to reinforce existing biases.
“At least traditional media services once showed both sides of the story, giving you a diverse, informative news bulletin at six or seven o’clock to broaden your intellectual horizon.
“We, parliamentarians, are expected to spend money on these tax-avoiding tech giant platforms, promoting what we have to say to ensure our voters are seeing it.
“Who profits from that? It’s the same multinational tech giants that are paying less than 5 per cent effective tax in Australia.”
Dr Webster argued the government “rewarded their conquest” of the entertainment and news market by paying them to gain more market share.
“The tax-avoiding multinationals do not have Australia’s best interests at heart, and we need the Federal Government to stand up to them,” she said.
