West Australian energy prices are rising and everyday people are paying the price. 

Fossil fuel companies are making windfall profits but instead of taxing them appropriately, governments are giving them handouts to export our resources.

Research shows that when adjusted for inflation. Fossil fuel exporters are paying less Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) than they were 15 years ago.

Lines attributable to Greens spokesperson for resources, Yamatji-Noongar Woman Senator Dorinda Cox:

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Nick McKim, has responded to the release of the latest taxation statistics by the ATO.

“The fact that 60 people who earned over $1 million managed to pay not a cent in tax clearly demonstrates that Labor should abandon the upcoming Stage 3 tax cuts.”

“Labor should be making high income earners pay their fair share rather than giving them another tax cut.”

“Proceeding with Scott Morrison’s tax cuts for millionaires while so many high income earners are already paying no tax is irresponsible and unfair.”

The Greens Leader Adam Bandt says a windfall tax on gas corporations profiteering from the current crisis could be imposed simply by closing loopholes in the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) in the government’s first budget in October.

The PRRT was designed to tax super-profits, but gas corporations figured out how to avoid paying it by building up a backlog of tax credits to the tune of a jaw-dropping $282 billion. This means that gas companies have to burn through $282 billion in profits until they start paying tax.

The Greens have pledged $1.14 billion in extra federal funding for WA chronically underfunded hospitals.

This investment would be funded by repairing the broken ‘resource super profits tax’ (the PRRT), forcing big corporations to pay royalties on the gas they currently access for free.

The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT), introduced in 1987, is meant to ensure that the public gets a fair share of the unearned revenue (rent) enjoyed by companies by virtue of having exclusive access to Commonwealth resources. 

On Wednesday, Greens Leader Adam Bandt and Greens spokesperson for Mining and Resources Senator Dorinda Cox will be in Karratha, WA to launch the final component of the Greens’ Tycoon Tax, which will end tax breaks for corporations undertaking offshore gas extraction in Commonwealth waters and oblige them to pay royalties on the natural resources that rightfully belong to the people of Australia.

The Greens will push the new tax in balance of power in the Senate after the next election.

Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, today commented on new tax statistics released by the ATO revealing tax credits to oil and gas giants have ballooned to $324 billion. 

"The PRRT is the most egregious rort in the Australian tax code.

"The failure of successive Liberal and Labor governments to address this problem has resulted in oil and gas companies accumulating a whopping $324 billion worth of tax offsets.

"This equates to around 70% of the Commonwealth Government’s total revenue.

The Senate Inquiry into Corporate Tax Avoidance report released today reveals the Labor Party is signing off on the Liberals' policy not to touch the tax system for existing petroleum resource projects. The Australian Greens said that this will allow hundreds of billions of dollars of petroleum resources to be extracted without a cent in royalties or taxes paid under the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax for decades to come. 

Greens Treasury spokesperson welcomes the announcement of a government review into potential rorting of the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax and the Commonwealth Royalty regime. Yesterday in Senate question time we asked the Government to consider doing this.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The Government has known about potential rorting by big fossil fuel companies of the PRRT and the oil and gas royalty regimes for years. Everyone should pay their fair share.

“The Greens have been raising questions about the integrity of these schemes in the last parliament and in this one.

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson says it is astonishing that in a week the Senate is squabbling over just tens of millions in revenue from backpackers, that the ANAO have just released a bombshell report (LINK HERE) saying that oil and gas companies may have wrongly claimed billions in tax deductions.