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MichaelWest.com.au has written a terrific expose on the shameless rorting of the JobKeeper wage subsidy by the top end of town.
Key highlights from “The Big Grift” include:
- Mirvac received some $22 million in JobKeeper despite accumulating over $20 billion in sales over the past six years, not paying a cent in income tax (despite earning profits, including during the pandemic), and paying a large $305 million to its shareholders and large subsidies to its executive team while receiving the wage subsidy.
- Billionaire Solomon Lew and Premier Investments reported a 30% increase in profit, to $138 million, at the end of last financial year. A significant chunk of this profit increase can be attributed to the $70 million it received in government wage subsidies, accounting for more than 50% of their profit for the year. Lew himself earned $24 million in dividends.
- At latest count, more than 60 ASX businesses have disclosed receiving JobKeeper and other taxpayer handouts.
- These businesses recorded combined profits of $8.6 billion over the past 18 months.
- They have funnelled more than $3.6 billion in dividends to investors since last April and paid out $20 million in bonuses to executives.
- They have paid back only $72 million in subsidies.
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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.