BlueScope Steel has hit back amid revelations it paid no tax in the 2015-16 financial year, with the company citing “incomplete” data.
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Recently-released figures from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) showed the steelmaker was among 732 companies that didn’t pay a cent of tax during that period.
The data revealed BlueScope had a total income of $4.9 billion in 2015-16; $445.1 million of which was taxable.
An Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) analysis of the ATO figures found BlueScope sat atop a list of the highest-earning companies that paid no tax, with a “tax lost” figure of $133.5 million.
The figure is 30 per cent (the corporate tax rate) of its taxable income.
ACTU president Ged Kearney said the findings were “nothing short of a national scandal”.
“This data shows the gulf between the workers and corporations in Australia,” Ms Kearney said.
“Workers are punished for taking industrial action and are finding steady work harder and harder to find. Meanwhile, companies don’t bother to pay tax.”
“These businesses are getting away with thumbing their noses at paying their taxes, and it’s costing us all because it is ripping off money that should be going to our schools and hospitals.”
The ATO report ... is incomplete, as the taxable income figures exclude legitimate offsetting tax adjustments.
- BlueScope Steel spokesman
A BlueScope spokesman said the company was “fully compliant with the rules and regulations” of the tax office.
“The ATO report released for year ended 30 June 2016 is incomplete, as the taxable income figures exclude legitimate offsetting tax adjustments,” the spokesman said.
“For BlueScope, these adjustments include the impact of R&D [research and development] tax concessions, which is largely attributable to the spend of our R&D innovation team here at Port Kembla, as well as BlueScope’s accrual of multi-billion dollar tax losses recouped as part of trading losses incurred during the GFC. These are the reasons why BlueScope had no corporate tax payable.”
Meanwhile, the Greens used the data release to take aim at BlueScope’s political donations.
An Australian Electoral Commission disclosure showed the steelmaker donated $54,200 to various parties in 2015-16.