Australia risks being “increasingly uncompetitive” due to its current company tax rate, the local chairman of BAE Systems has said.
The Australian Financial Review reports the comments in light of US President-elect Donald Trump’s goal of reducing company taxes to 15 per cent, and the UK government’s stated ambition to also reduce its tax rate to 15 per cent, eventually.
“[Australia’s] tax rate is getting increasingly uncompetitive. The thought that the UK will cut their rate further, [will] make it uncompetitive, if President-elect Trump goes ahead with his plans to reduce the US rate it will be further uncompetitive,” BAE’s Australian chairman Ian Watt told The AFR.
“There are some things [Trump] might find harder to do, but the Republican Party is likely to give him support in cutting the company tax rate.”
The federal government has a policy of phasing Australia’s company taxes from 30 to 25 per cent over the next decade, though no support to do this.
BAE has had a presence in Australia since 1953 and is headquartered in Edinburgh Parks, South Australia.
