Government lets 57,000 fraudsters profit; $2b missing
The Federal Labor government has failed to collect $2b in fraudulently claimed GST refunds, and has left almost 57,000 criminals unpunished, according to last night's episode of Four Corners, broadcast by the ABC.
The Four Corners investigation revealed that tens of thousands of individuals exploited weaknesses in the tax system to lodge false GST refund claims, costing the Commonwealth billions, yet very few have faced consequences.
Western Australian Senator Fatima Payman is demanding that the Federal Government urgently recover the $2 billion in fraudulently claimed GST refunds and to prosecute the 57,000 individuals identified as having defrauded the system.
"The scale of this fraud is staggering, and yet the government appears to just let these crimes go unpunished while ordinary taxpayers foot the bill," Senator Payman said.
"Australians, and especially Western Australians who contribute significantly to GST revenue, deserve to know why these fraudsters are walking free."
Senator Payman is demanding that the Government:
- Immediately launch a targeted recovery operation through the Australian Taxation Office, with additional resources to trace, freeze, and recover stolen funds.
- Refer all viable cases to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for criminal charges to ensure those responsible are held to account.
- Commission an independent review into the systemic failures that allowed such widespread fraud to occur undetected.
- Report quarterly to Parliament on progress in recovering public money and prosecuting offenders.
"This is not a victimless crime, this is money that could have gone to hospitals, schools, aged care, and essential infrastructure," Senator Payman said.
"It's a betrayal of public trust."
"Western Australians are tired of seeing our revenue squandered."
"I'll be using every parliamentary tool available to ensure this government doesn't sweep this under the rug."
