Road Freight NSW says its members are becoming “cash-cows” for stevedores like DP World who are reportedly paying no tax in Australia despite raising port fees
Peak body Road Freight NSW (RFNSW) has expressed concern that multi-national port operator DP World has continued to pay no tax in Australia, despite RFNSW saying the company is bringing in billions of dollars in revenue.
According to a new report released today by the Centre for International Tax Accountability and Research (Cictar), DP World Australia has “paid zero in corporate income tax over the past eight years (2013-14 to 2020-21) while it generated $4.5 billion in total revenue and holds more than $2.4 billion in assets”.
RFNSW CEO Simon O’Hara says the revelation that the stevedore has paid no tax comes just days after DP World Australia announced a range of landside fee increases at Australian container terminals from January 1 next year, including an increase of more than 38 per cent in the Terminal Access Charge (TAC) in Sydney.
“For the past eight years, DP World Australia has continued to slug our members with ongoing increases in terminal access charges, yet all this time, we now find out that it has reportedly paid no tax in Australia, on the billions in revenue it has generated and continues to generate through yet another price hike at the port,” O’Hara says.
“As cost-of living pressures escalate, more and more of our members are struggling to make ends meet, operating on wafer-thin margins – but they do the right thing and pay their fair share of tax. Yet, according to the Cictar Report, the stevedore has paid none.
“There may be valid reasons why big multi-nationals pay no tax in Australia due to the corporate structures multi-nationals create to pay less or no tax in Australia. From our perspective, it’s unconscionable. It again shows that our RFNSW members have become cash-cows for DP World and the other stevedores.”
O’Hara says RFNSW is supporting calls for greater tax transparency and reporting for large companies operating in Australia.