There's a call for the big "Australian" energy companies to be taxed on the bumper profits they are making from the global surge in fuel prices.
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According to a report by The Australia Institute, many of the companies widely perceived to be Australian-owned are, in fact, owned outside Australia, often by American enterprises.
On this reasoning, the argument is that taxing their profits would not unduly damage the Australian economy.
The average foreign ownership share of the liquefied natural gas industry is 95.7 per cent, the researchers say, "while Australian equity is 4.3 per cent".
Australian ownership is a measly six per cent.
- Australia Institute
The researchers also did the analysis for mining companies. "BHP is described as the 'big Australian' but, at 94 per cent foreign-owned and 82 per cent American-owned, it would be better described as the 'big American'."
"Australian ownership is a measly six per cent."
The same was true for banks, according to the research. "The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is thought to be very Australian, yet it is 81 per cent foreign-owned and, as it happens, 55 per cent American-owned," the Australia Institute report said.
"These findings have implications for Australian democracy," the report, titled Foreign Investment in Australia says.
"When the mining industry lobbies the government, it is necessarily acting for its foreign owners and likely to be inconsistent with Australia's interest in the mining industry."
The institute's chief economist, Richard Denniss, recommended "a windfall gains tax on the extra gas profits that the Ukraine war is delivering to the companies exporting so much Australian gas overseas".
This tax, the argument runs, could then be used to fund the switch from a carbon dominated economy to one powered by renewable sources of energy like solar and wind.
