Globalisation and the politics of taxation

The activities of government affect business on a multitude of levels yet of all the ways in which governments seek to regulate and influence commercial activity, taxation is arguably the most significant and contested. Annual Australian surveys of business consistently find that levels of taxation and the complexity of the national tax system are major concerns for managers, while the Business Council of Australia has recently argued that the tax burden confronting Australian corporations is among the highest in the world and has reached a point where it inhibits investment and wealth creation. Tax policy always involves difficult trade-offs and is inevitably politicised. We might all agree that we need governments to protect national borders, regulate markets, provide welfare for the needy along with a host of other essential public services, but the taxes used to fund such services are often unpopular and have the potential to hinder business activity and impede economic growth