Dick Smith has labeled Australian billionaires as ‘some of the greediest people alive’ – while calling on the country’s wealthy to pay more taxes.
The self-made millionaire targeted the richest in the country, arguing that the top one percent of earners (including himself) should contribute more to help the country balance its budget.
“I can tell you, rich people like me can easily pay more taxes,” he said Ben Fordham of 2GB.
“We have a hundred billionaires in this country. They are some of the greediest people out there.
“Only 15 percent are known to be philanthropists, and many of these billionaires would do anything they can… they are actually constantly complaining about the taxes they have to pay when they could easily afford them.
Mr. Smith made the remarks as he discussed proposed pension changes to double the tax on retirement accounts of more than $3 million.
The entrepreneur targeted Australia’s 100 billionaires (above the top ten) who he said could easily afford to pay more tax, helping the country pay off its debt.
Millionaire entrepreneur Dick Smith has made an extraordinary attack on Australia’s billionaires – he said there are a hundred and they are ‘some of the greediest of people’
“The country needs money. It’s a fantastic country, it has incredible education, roads, military, it needs money to pay for that and we’re in big debt and we should pay off the debt and not let our children do that in the future.
“If you have a billion dollars, you are really rich.”
Mr. Smith did not name any of the billionaires, except for the late Kerry Packer, who once famously told a federal tax inquiry in 1991, “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t minimize their taxes.
“I am not deducting taxes in any way,” Packer told the inquiry in 1991. “Of course I minimize my taxes. If someone in this country doesn’t minimize his taxes, he wants his head read.”
Mr Smith said the current federal government’s pension shake-up had the approval of 64 per cent of Australians.
Dick Smith said Australia’s 100 billionaires, of which Gina Rinehart is the richest in the country, could ‘easily’ pay more tax and they should do so so Australia can reduce debt for future generations
Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest is Australia’s second richest person, of 100 billionaires Dick Smith called on to pay more taxes so the country could pay off its national debt
“We need the money to run this wonderful country and all I’m saying is that not all people are like Kerry Packer who said… he took no pleasure in paying taxes and he would do anything to to minimize it.
“There are plenty of people around… wage earners who pay their taxes and they have to pay their taxes and we do incredible things with that, it’s a fantastic country.”
He quoted businessman Mark Carnegie as saying, “I agree… the rich can pay more taxes and pay back some of our debts and our children and grandchildren don’t have to pay.”
Daily Mail Australia reached out to five billionaires from its list of Australia’s 100 richest people asking for their reaction to Mr Smith’s comments and what philanthropic works they did.
A spokesperson for Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar responded that the Atlassian Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the software business, had donated $54 million to education and addressing underserving.
Atlassian founders, Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, are among Australia’s ten richest people and point out that their software company’s philanthropic arm contributed 1pc or $54 million to education and other causes
“We contribute 1% of our equity, our profits, our employees’ time and our products to the Foundation,” said Atlassian.
Andrew Forrest, president of Fortescue Metals, and his wife Nicola run the Minderoo Foundation, which invests $2.6 billion in research into childhood cancer, education for children and reducing global warming and overfishing, and plastic pollution, among other things.
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting sponsors Women in Sports, a sponsorship program for girls in Cambodia, funds the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and programs for at-risk youth and victims of domestic violence.
Other billionaires have listed philanthropic programs that they fund at a profit, usually through a charitable trust such as Meriton magnate Harry Triguboff’s Foundation for Youth and Chronic Disease.
Last week, Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, denied she was the mysterious billionaire with a $544 million pension balance, which Australia’s tax authorities listed as the highest super-balance.
“That’s a ridiculous amount,” said Mr. Smith, “you don’t really need $500 million to retire.
“It wasn’t me, I don’t have anything like that.”
But he said that ‘wealthy people like me … I’ve always said we can pay a little more in taxes.
“I belong to the one per cent group who have as much money as the 17 million Australians who are typical wage earners.
Mark Carnegie said a few years ago “my proposal is that the wealthiest 15 percent of the community pays 15 percent more in taxes to be optimistic and positive for the next generation and the generation after.”
“I don’t believe we should focus on moms and dads. I think there’s an opportunity for the typical wage earner to pay less tax.”