'Name and shame' global firms avoiding Australian taxes

Sydney

MULTINATIONAL companies shifting profits offshore to avoiding paying Australian taxes should be "named and shamed", the chairman of an Australian parliamentary inquiry into the practices said on Sunday ahead of the release of a report.

The inquiry has grilled senior representatives of some of the world's biggest companies in the technology, pharmaceutical and mining sectors on whether they were using complex corporate structures to reduce their tax burden. The push in Australia to crack down on MNCs has been mirrored in other countries, with Britain in March introducing a so-called "Google tax" on companies that divert profits overseas.