Report: Industry Buying Wall-To-Wall Ads About Its Tax Bill Is Probably Paying Less Than It Could

WENDELL HUSSEY | Cadet | CONTACT

A bombshell new report has dropped this morning, revealing that a certain sector of the Australian economy might be playing silly buggers.

The report handed down by the South Betoota Polytechnic School of Common Sense Economics has revealed that the gas industry might not be paying its fair share of tax.

The report has confirmed what is becoming a widely accepted fact by a growing number of Australians every week.

The latest report comes as the gas sector continues to spam newspapers, TV, radio, billboards and any inanimate objects with advertising, in an effort to stop the snowballing public narrative.

According to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) transparency data, Santos Limited has paid zero corporate income tax in Australia for 10 consecutive years (covering the financial years from 2013-14 through 2023-24), despite recording nearly $47 billion in sales over that decade.

The company of course pays other contributions like royalties, Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) - but these are arguably rather negligible in comparison.

For example Santos paid $213 million in PRRT on $8.2 billion of oil and gas revenue...

They also try to claim that they pay tax in the form of the tax their employees pay for generating wealth for them.

Of course, Santos is just one company in the gas sector, who as a whole not only pay fuck all tax, but receive billions in subsidies from the government.

Given those facts, combined with the blanket advertising and lobbying (which costs quite the pretty penny), it's been confirmed that the gas industry might be taking the piss.

"Yeah I mean if they can spend that much on ads, they can probs afford to fork out a bit more," said the report lead.

"But that's not the way these guys like to operate is it."

More to come.