Business leaders are set to be disappointed by the Federal Government’s business tax working group, which is expected to have no major recommendations to slash the overall rate.
According to Fairfax, the Treasurer’s working group will release a discussion paper this week that will look at tax breaks around accelerated depreciation and research and development, but won’t suggest a target figure for the government to aim for.
The Australian Industry Group has been calling on the group to recommend a lowering of the company tax rate to 25% from 30%, to bring it in line with other OECD countries.
Google facing tax probe
Google is facing further scrutiny of its tax affairs, with British MPs set to probe the search giant’s compliance after it was revealed it paid just 6 million pounds ($8.9 million) last year.
Google manages to pay this small amount of tax despite last year’s £395 million ($586 million) revenue in the UK because it bases itself in Ireland, which has a 12.5% company tax rate.
Finance firms face gender pay challenge
There is a widening gender pay gap in the financial services industry, according to a new report.
The Financial Services Institute said that the 31% discrepancy is one of the largest pay gaps between men and women in Australia.
Markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 42.76 points, or 0.3%, to 13,207.95 on Friday. The Australian dollar was up to US105.55 cents.
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