In October 2005 the Business Council of Australia published the fi rst comprehensive examination of Australia’s corporate tax burden. Now, 12 months on, we re-examine Australia’s position relative to our key competitors to assess how things have changed. The news is not good.
Australia’s corporate tax burden has risen to 5.7 per cent of GDP, more than double that of the United States and close to double that of the United Kingdom. It is also one-third higher than key regional trading partners Japan, Singapore, China and Malaysia.
Australia’s corporate tax burden remains the highest against every relevant global comparison, and its relative position is worsening. In the 12 months since the publication of the BCA’s report Corporate Taxation: An International Comparison, we have seen long-awaited and signifi cant reforms to both the personal income tax and superannuation tax systems. However, there have been few signifi cant business tax reforms in recent years. Meanwhile, other countries are aggressively pursuing more competitive corporate tax systems. As this report shows, there have been signifi cant movements among some of Australia’s key competitors over the last year.
Access full Report, in pdf format.
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