Chevron Archives - Michael West

PRRT Pipe-Dream: gas “crackdown” really a fawning tweak on a failed tax

by Michael West | Nov 7, 2018 | Energy & Environment, Finance & Tax

High in their splendid eyries above Clarence and Collins streets, scores of tax advisers from EY, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte have been beating their fee-clocks by the hour, cooking up fancy new loopholes, plotting how to beat the system.

Nine Lies: how the gas cartel clouted Australia with price rises

by Michael West | Jul 13, 2018 | Energy & Environment

There is not a gas market. There is a gas cartel. Ergo the nosebleed price rises. Four players dominate production in Australia and exports of liquid natural gas (LNG) too: Santos, Origin Energy, Shell and Exxon/BHP. The latter are effectively one player as they enjoy joint-marketing arrangements.

Charge tax shark Exxon with contempt of Parliament

by Michael West | Dec 21, 2017 | Energy & Environment, Finance & Tax

Australia’s political leaders ought to charge US oil giant ExxonMobil and its directors with contempt of parliament. Exxon has deceived the Senate. In 2015, its bosses were asked to disclose their relationships between ExxonMobil Australia and other Exxon...

ATO data dump: naming and shaming the nation’s biggest tax cheats

by Michael West | Dec 8, 2017 | Finance & Tax

The usual culprits are at play. Zero tax on $2.9 billion in revenue from Rupert Murdoch’s News Australia Holdings – zero tax on $8.4 billion over three years – not a zack from Wall Street’s cuff-linked freebooters Goldman Sachs for the third...

Taxman pursues tax dodger Shell in Switzerland

by Michael West | Nov 28, 2017 | Despatch

The Tax Office is chasing oil major Shell Australia in Switzerland, asking the government for documents related to both its upstream and downstream companies, according to Swiss sources. It is no secret the ATO is unhappy with the oil majors as they have radically...