Tax reform an opportunity to act on climate, inequality

The Greens say any change to Australia's tax system must be progressive, correcting rising inequality and acting on global warming.

"The whole point of tax is to raise the revenue we need to pay for the Australian society we want: caring, innovative, healthy, and protected from the impacts of global warming" said Greens Leader Christine Milne.

"That means ending taxpayer support of polluting fossil fuels; it means actually collecting the tax owed by corporate Australia and multi-nationals, and it means closing tax loopholes for the richest among us.

"Instead of cutting from the people who most need our support, we need to crack down on tax avoidance and raise revenue from those who can afford to pay.

"The Greens are ready to work with the government to do both those things.

"We have announced nearly $80 billion in revenue measures, and I have written to the Prime Minister to outline them all," said Senator Milne.

"Two-tiered company tax would shift the burden from small businesses to the large, wealthy ones.

"Ditching fuel credits for the big miners would save $10 billion over the forward estimates, without disadvantaging farmers.

"Taxing super contributions on a progressive scale would end the use of superannuation as a tax haven for the wealthy, while helping people on lower incomes to save more for their retirements.

"There seems to be furious agreement on this progressive super tax proposal, with Labor's shadow treasurer indicating a willingness to consider it, and the government's own advisers backing it in the tax white paper.

"It's a sensible reform that would deliver a super system for everyone. The Parliamentary Budget Office says it would raise $10 billion over the forward estimates.

"The cruel ideas put forward by Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey in the last budget have been roundly rejected by the people. The government has invited discussion with this white paper, so now we just need them to listen."