Tax corporations and the super-rich

Australia is one of the richest places in the world, endowed with natural resources, farmlands and advanced technologies in every industry. There is more than enough for everyone to lead a comfortable life.

The problem is that our resources are unevenly distributed: all the things we need to provide for society are in the hands of private industry, whose main priority is to make profits for themselves. 

The result is tremendous inequality. We need wealth redistribution to make sure everyone has a good life, not just the rich. To do that, we need to raise extra government revenues from big businesses and the ultra-wealthy to fund projects and services that meet the needs of everyone.

What we think

1. All economic value is created by labour. When one group of people comes to control wealth significantly beyond what they could have obtained through their own labour, it is because they have taken it from others.
2. At a minimum, strong redistributive policies should be in place to redress wealth inequality, which is the result of a theft perpetrated against the working class.
3. Public services and infrastructure should be paid for by taxes on the wealthy, which are a way of giving back to working people what has already been taken from them.
4. Ultimately, progressive taxation, nationalisation and other measures, such as workers’ control over production, should be used to push towards a socialised and democratic economy that works in the interests of the majority. 

We'll fight to

1. Impose a 10 percent wealth tax on billionaires and a 10 percent tax on assets owned by foreign billionaires in Australia.
2. Impose a 90 percent marginal tax rate on all personal income over $300,000 pa.
3. Scrap negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount for all investment properties.
4. Increase company tax to 50 percent.
5. Increase royalties on all coal, gas, oil, base and precious metals and minerals to 35 percent.
6. Increase taxes on the gambling industry.
7. Double the payroll tax for large companies and trusts.
8. End land tax exemptions and other write-offs for private schools, religious institutions and other elite “charity” institutions.
9. Establish stringent laws that impose jail time for those who try to hide wealth offshore.
10. Impose a climate tax on big polluters
11. Endthe billions in public subsidies to mining corporations, banks and energy companies
12. Impose criminal sanctions for rampant tax evasion by multinationals
13. Abolish the GST, a regressive tax that hits lower income earners hardest