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If there is one fact the Panama Papers ram home it’s that in Australia the super-rich can play by one set of rules, while working people must follow another.
Early childhood educator, Alicia Smith, is one of millions of Australians who pay their fair share of tax.
The 36 year-old Tasmanian loves being an educator to under-sixes. Like any professional job, there are non-negotiables in her career. You must have skills and qualifications, you must exercise judgment and responsibility, and you must work hard. You must also pay your tax.
There are no loopholes Alicia can use if she can’t pay what she owes the taxman. And, most months, what she earns as an early childhood educator is not enough to cover her everyday expenses. Even with a university degree, Alicia’s wages are so low she has to work two extra jobs, as a cleaner and as an usher, to make ends meet. For now, she is staying in the career she is passionate about, but many of her colleagues are leaving the sector.
Providing quality education for children in the early years is professional work. It is also the backbone for a resilient, thriving society. Yet in Australia the sector is chronically underfunded, with government funding significantly below the OECD average, and less than half the OECD recommended minimum of 1% of GDP.
We know that the quality of early education is intimately linked to the quality of the workforce. When the people who educate our children are paid properly, staff turnover drops, new workers are attracted to the sector, skills and experience levels rise. Every child benefits.
Yet the Federal Government persists in ignoring the need for early childhood educators to be paid professional wages.
The Senate Committee report into the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Jobs for Families Childcare Package) Bill 2015, released on Monday, endorses a system which provides welcome additional funds to the early years education sector, but does nothing to secure a sustainable future for the workforce. Not only is there no provision for professional wages for educators, the Families Package also imposes a new, harsh, activity test which will slash access to education for many of the children who need it most.
Saying Australia doesn’t have the money to get the system right is less credible today than ever before.
The Panama Papers reveal billions of dollars in unpaid taxes, hidden by the super-wealthy in tax havens – billions of dollars that could be used to build an early education sector for Australian children and other education and health systems which are fit for the 21st century.
The fixes needed to retrieve those unpaid taxes have been known for some time.
United Voice and the Tax Justice Network’s 2014 report, Who Pays for Our Common Wealth: Tax Practices of the ASX 200, laid out a series of recommendations for reform.
Yet, despite overwhelming evidence, the Government refuses to take meaningful action against tax avoidance and tax evasion.
The report of the Senate Inquiry into Corporate Tax Avoidance is due to be handed down this month. How the Government responds to its recommendations will be a crucial test of Malcolm Turnbull and the Government he leads.
Why? Because whether you pay your fair share of tax or not should not come down to how wealthy you are, or your access to ingenious accountants and lawyers.
Every Australian must follow the same rules: be honest, respect the people around you, and play fair.
Alicia works hard to make sure her under-six students understand these values. When it comes to tax reform, to everyone paying their fair share, let’s hope the Government does too.