A plan to hit oil and gas multinationals with a 10 per cent royalty could boost the budget by $15 billion over the next decade.
A Parliamentary Budget Office costing of a minimum 10 per cent rate on resources predicts the Greens plan will initially raise $1.4 billion a year, rising to $1.7 billion as production increases.
Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the current petroleum resource rent tax allowed multinational corporations to offset their costs over a long period of time to avoid paying royalties.
“The biggest rort in this country is the petroleum resource rent tax,” the Greens senator told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
The tax increase would bring Australia in line with other major gas exporters like Qatar.
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“This is what people want to see from politicians.They want to see us tackling a rigged system, rigged in the favour of multinational corporations,” Senator Whish-Wilson said.
Cabinet minister Mitch Fifield said the government had acted on multinational tax avoidance with a range of measures including doubled penalties for companies dodging obligations.
“This government has been extremely active when it comes to ensuring corporate taxpayers pay what they should,” he told parliament.
