Australia’s gas belongs to all of us. The benefits should be shared fairly rather than hoarded by companies that pay some of the lowest taxes in the world
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We now know that the Albanese government will very likely introduce an extra levy imposed on gas producers’ high profits. The prime minister’s department has requested Treasury modelling of additional levies on gas companies in response to the Iran crisis that is driving up energy costs for Australians. The department was reported as saying that energy producers “should not benefit from high international prices at the expense of domestic customers”. Precisely. There can be no going back now from such a statement.
But this is also a time for longer term thinking. We cannot have a temporary extra tax. We must deal with Australia’s chronic undertaxing of those utilising the gas resources that belong to all Australians. Indeed, there will never be a better time for the federal government to adopt a fair share levy (FSL) – as set out by the Superpower Institute, which I chair – to ensure gas companies pay their fair share of tax to boost Australia’s prosperity and provide cost-of-living relief to Australians. The levy is based on the taxation model used by Norway, and similar to one used by the UK.
Rod Sims is chair of the Superpower Institute and an enterprise professor at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. From 2011 to 2022 he was chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission