Optus Owner and Netflix Among Major Corporations Earning Billions Without Paying Taxes

New data released today by the Australian Taxation Office revealed the proportion of large companies has fallen to its lowest level on record, dipping to 28 per cent from 31 per cent the year before.

“For the first time since corporate tax transparency (CTT) reporting began, the amount of entities paying no tax has dropped below 30 per cent,” ATO assistant commissioner Michelle Sams said. 

“This is the lowest proportion of nil tax entities in eleven years of CTT reporting and in part reflects the continued efforts of the Tax Avoidance Taskforce in holding large corporates to account.”

However, some companies that reported billions in income for the 2023-24 financial year didn’t pay a cent in tax.

The group includes Optus’ owner Singtel, which had $8.2 billion in income, Netflix, which had income of $1.18 billion, and energy and resources companies Santos ($8.21 billion), AGL ($12.81 billion), and EnergyAustralia ($7 billion).

The company with the most income that paid no tax was global food giant JBS, which earned $19.71 billion.

An entity earning significant amounts of income is no guarantee of it making a profit – Australia Post, for example, paid no tax on its $9.29 billion in income after posting an almost $90 million loss in 2023-24 – and paying no tax is not illegal.

“There are legitimate reasons why a company may pay no income tax,” Sams said.

“The Australian community can be assured we pay close attention to those who don’t pay corporate tax and ensure that they are not gaming the system.”

However, Greens Senator Nick McKim said the number of companies paying no tax was far too high, and was proof the system needs fixing.

“Almost one in three big corporations paid nothing. That’s an economy-wide rip off,” he said.

“You know the system is cooked when people going to work every day as nurses, cleaners or plumbers are paying more tax than nearly a third of big corporations.

“Working people don’t get the option of skipping their tax bill.”

At the other end of the spectrum, mining giants Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue were the biggest taxpayers, with bills of $6.25 billion, $6 billion and $3.93 billion respectively.

It was the third year in a row the mining industry paid more tax than all other sectors combined.

The big four banks all paid in excess of $1 billion in tax, with Commonwealth Bank topping that list with $3.43 billion, and Telstra and Woolworths both a little over $750 million.

In total, large companies paid a combined $95.7 billion in income tax, down about $2 billion from the year before.

“While the tax paid by this population will reflect the economic conditions during the year, the overall trend is clear,” Sams said. 

“The data continues to demonstrate the high levels of compliance amongst our largest corporates, which is what the Australian community expects.

“Australia has some of the highest levels of tax compliance of large business in the world.”

Nine is the owner of streaming service Stan, a competitor to Netflix.