In a bid to stop large corporations from paying next to no tax, an anonymous person has been leaving sneaky tags around an IKEA store in Canberra. The tags factually explain to customers how much IKEA has ripped good old Australia off by avoiding the tax man.
IKEA has been trolled big time, with Fair Go For Canberra showing punters how big corporations are reaping tax breaks thanks to some clever ‘price tags’.
Whoever is leaving the tags is no dimwit either, they have gone all out to make them look as official as possible. They have used the same font IKEA uses for in-store price tags and flyers, and they seem to know their shit about current interest rates and tax rates.
The tags express “During the period from 2002 – 2013, IKEA’s Australian stores have made over $1 billion in profit, and paid less than $31 million in tax”.
“That’s a rate of 3%. The corporate tax rate in Australia is 30%. Imagine what we could do with $269 million.”
The instigator/s have even created a new logo for IKEA, which reads “FAKEA: Design, quality and aggressive tax minimisation”. The final link on the tags directs to the website Fair Go For Canberra, which alleges that IKEA isn’t the only large corporation that may be avoiding paying correct taxes, pointing the finger at Apple, Google, Microsoft, BHP and more.
The website explains “Local businesses are subject to the standard corporate tax rate of 30%. Since starting operations in Australia in 2003, IKEA has made over $1 billion in profit and paid less than 3% in tax. That equals about $270 million of potential nurses, teachers, healthcare, housing for the homeless or social services that the Australian people have been deprived of.”
“By avoiding real action on corporate tax avoidance and instead focusing on raising the GST, the Turnbull Government is protecting the wealthy at the expense of everyday Australians. Research has shown that raising or broadening the GST will hit our lowest income earners the hardest, producing greater inequality.”
The website asks individuals to sign a petition to take to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the issue, with the move coming at a time when Australia is debating the idea of increasing out GST from 10% to 15%.
