With the USA cutting its tax rate from 35% to 21% and most other OECD countries doing the same, (the UK is at 19%), the question is what effect will this have on Australia. In short, with the global free flow of capital investors are looking for the best return. Australia and every other country in the world is competing for investment and the jobs, wages and taxes that flow from these investments, and foreign investment has been a major factor in Growth in Aus for decades.

As Labor has very vocally advertised, lowering the corporate tax rate would cost the exchequer about $50bn over the next 10 years with the expected levels of economic activity. However, already Australia is attracting about half the portion of foreign investment that it was a decade ago, (partially due to the end of the mining boom) and the signs are that it will drop further.

Adani: $0 tax paid on $724m revenue. Chevron: $0 tax paid on $2.1bn revenue. ExxonMobil Australia: $0 tax paid on $6.7bn revenue. Origin Energy: $0 tax paid on $11.9bn revenue. IBM: $0 tax paid on $3.6bn of revenue.

Australian tax office says 36% of big firms and multinationals paid no tax.

Could not agree more Shadow, let "cut" the corporate tax rate to 21%, particularly for the big boys, and others, who are presently paying no tax at all.

Paul,

Income taxes are paid on profit not revenue. So mentioning the revenues of these companies and not their profits displays either an appalling propensity to distort the facts to suit the meme or an appalling misunderstanding of how the tax system works... or both.

eg

"ExxonMobil Australia: $0 tax paid on $6.7bn revenue". From that $6.7b they paid things like purchases of product, wages, other taxes ($2.4b), depreciation on capital investments etc etc. End result is they made no profit. And (did I mention) tax is paid on profit.

Can anyone show that they did something illegal? Nup.... but why let mere facts get in the way, eh?

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Trump's new tax regime will put enormous pressure on Australia to match or get close to these rates. Of course, given the nature of our politics, we'll try to avoid doing the inevitable and the Labs and left-Libs will be dragged kicking and screaming to the understanding that you can't deny the real world forever. In the meantime, we'll continue the downward economic spiral.

Firstly, you make sure those making the laws, your political cronies, do so, so you do "nothing illegal", how smug we are. The political cronies create enough loop holes in the laws, so the likes of ExxonMobile could drive one of their super tankers through them.
If you still find you are being over taxed at one cent in the dollar, just employ the 'Double Irish tax plan" like the multi national Apple does;

A set of leaked documents from offshore law firm Appleby has revealed that Apple stashed $250 billion in Jersey, a tiny island off the coast of France known for being a tax haven. The tech titan apparently secretly moved its pile of overseas profits to the island.

Then there is the philosophically blinded like mhaze who fall for it all, hook, line and sinker.

Whatever corporate tax cuts do, they DO NOT 'create jobs' as the wafflers claim. The corporations grab the tax cuts and add them to profits.

However poor old Exxon Aus shares crashed to $76 this year and struggled back to $82 pending total collapse and bankruptcy.
"Oil and gas leviathan Exxon Mobil has managed to pay zero tax in Australia for two years, despite making $18 billion in sales.

Exxon is BHP’s partner in the Bass Strait offshore oil and gas fields and a big beneficiary of rising gas prices. While East Coast commercial and industrial gas customers have been getting slugged astronomical prices of $12-$15 a gigajoule for long-term supply contracts, Exxon shareholders have been pocketing record dividends."

The ATO asked please may I have some more and got a champagne raspberry from the street squatters.

The best known of these is Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who struck business deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Until last year, Tillerson was chief executive of Exxon until last year and holds $2.5 million Exxon shares which last traded at $US82.07 a share.