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Billion Dollar Reaper: how ExxonMobil exploits Australia and PNG by Jason Ward | Mar 22, 2019 | TOP40 TAX DODGERS ExonMobil $33 1Billion TAX PAYANDLESS In late December 2017, Australian newspaper headlines claimed that Exxon was the "poster boy" for corporate tax dodging, with $25 billion in revenues and not one cent in corporate income tax. Exxon was also embroiled in a bitter dispute with its workforce (and still is), after cutting workers' wages at the Longford Gas Plant by over a third. Workers on contracts, that is. This plant - via the Bass Strait offshore oil and gas fields - is the largest supplier to the domestic gas market. While consumer prices have skyrocketed, the government has threatened using a "big stick" to bring price relief. But this supposed big stick of government energy policy delivered a very soft poke. Exxon's tax dodging in Australia received further exposure through a Senate hearing when the public discovered that Exxon was in the middle of an eight-year tax holiday and did not expect to pay any corporate tax until 2021. Exxon also admitted - which it had failed to reveal to a previous Senate hearing although specifically asked - that the Australian business was owned by shell companies in the Netherlands, the Bahamas and Delaware. Exxon executives denied that this structure had any impact on tax paid in Australia. However, they could not explain what purpose the tax haven shell companies served and why it was set up that way. Exxon executives did provide a corporate structure of operations in Australia, but they have continued to mislead the Australian Parliament by failing to provide the full picture. The ATO did issue amended income tax assessments for ExxonMobil Australia Pty Ltd in 2018 "following a review of financing structures and related party loan pricing", but Exxon continues to contest those assessments. Rather than pay taxes, Exxon is likely to continue to add to the more than $10 million it has already spent in legal battles against the ATO. Question I continued overleaf AYN424TIJ.202