Greens hoping to hike taxes on companies in Australia to fund cost-of-living support

Taxing the rich to fund support for the poor: that’s how one party wants to convince Australians in the federal election.

Rents, mortgage payments and food prices continue to rise, while Australian companies are posting billions in profits.

The Greens want to kill two birds with one stone by raising taxes on businesses and using the money to lower the cost of living.

GreenLeft leader Adam Bandt will present his ‘Robin Hood reforms’ to the National Press Club on Wednesday.

“Large corporations across the economy have squeezed hundreds of billions of dollars out of the population since the end of the pandemic — too much of it tax-free,” he will say.

“Enough is enough.”

The Greens took the same approach in the last election.

This time around, the small party has updated its cost estimates and identified new companies it wants to target with taxes.

Part of the package, which would raise $296 billion over 10 years, involves imposing a 40 percent tax on corporate excess profits.

This applies to profits made on turnover after the first $100 million for Australian companies or multinational operations in Australia.

Another pillar, covering offshore gas and oil companies, would raise $111 billion by adjusting the tax on oil well revenues and forcing them to pay royalties.

The final part of the tax package would impose a 40 percent tax on the “super profits” of mining projects, excluding projects engaged in lithium or nickel extraction.

The money raised from these taxes could be used to build houses, add dental care to Medicare or keep Australians out of poverty.

“It will raise huge amounts of much-needed funding that we can reinvest in ordinary people and it will lower the cost of living,” Bandt said.

The Greens’ demands could carry even more weight after the federal election, with Labor expected to end up in a minority government.

Federal elections must be held by May at the latest.