The Australian Bankers’ Assocation (ABA) has asked for further information about the Budget’s bank levy proposed last week.
In a letter sent to Treasurer
Scott Morrison on Friday (12 May), ABA chief executive
Anna Bligh said additional details were required if the banks were to comment on the draft legislation.
The ABA has requested the following data from the Treasury by 5pm today (16 May):
- Modelling on the economic impacts of the bank levy, including on households and businesses
- Technical analysis laying the foundations for the design of the tax, including how it would cover the banks
- Assumptions of total revenue projections collected from the bank levy over the forward estimates
It was not acceptable to keep the banks and the community in the dark about a project which would have a major impact on the economy, Bligh said.
“Senior executives of the major banks in good faith attended what they expected to be a comprehensive briefing from Treasury yesterday, only to find to their dismay that Treasury was also in the dark.”
She continued, saying that basic questions about how the tax was calculated and how the figure of $6.2bn were reached had yet to be answered.
“Yet the Treasurer Mr Morrison continues to maintain that this tax will be ready for implementation by July 1, which is only around six weeks away,” Bligh said.
“The Government seems to be putting intolerable pressure on its Treasury officials to meet a ridiculous political timetable.”
The banks were concerned about any major unintended consequences of the new tax and urgently required additional information to properly assess its impacts, she said.
“This process is already breaking all the rules and conventions about major taxation implementation, including no prior consultation, no exposure draft legislation for public comment, and an extraordinarily brief timetable before a hastily designed tax is presented to the Parliament.”
A written response will be provided to the ABA, a Treasury spokesperson told
Australian Broker.
Related stories:
Treasury bank briefing called “complete shambles”
Banks “set themselves up” for surprise Budget levy
Majors react to Budget’s bank levy
