Category: Tax

Pirates oppose the Google and Facebook Tax

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Pirate Party Australia is disappointed but unsurprised that the Australian Labor Party, rather than standing up for everyday Australian internet users, side with the Liberal National Coalition on yet another round of legislative nonsense that panders to the interests of their corporate masters.[1]

We are, however, surprised and disappointed that the Australian Greens have chosen to endorse what amounts to a stealth tax targeted at Google and Facebook, except paid directly to Murdoch’s News Corp, to maintain his failing business model. In addition to paying royalties to News Corp, the Greens are asking Facebook and Google to hand over details of algorithmic changes and data collection to inform News Corp’s “business decisions”. Little wonder Google might pull their search product, with their trade secrets under threat. This completely ignores the referral value provided to news media organisations, which Google estimates at greater than $200 million[2] and Facebook greater than $400 million[3].

The Pirates wonder at the cowardice of these parties in avoiding what could be world leading legislation in user privacy. By indulging such tantrum-throwing, the Liberals abandon their stated virtues of free enterprise and a competitive marketplace of ideas in exchange for groveling cronyism, the Labor party betrays the interests of their most staunch constituents, and the Greens are blinded by their mistrust of private enterprise.

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News Media Code a Bad Bargain

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On July 31st, the Australian Competition and Consume Commission (ACCC) under instructions from the Australian Government released draft legislation to address bargaining power imbalances between Australian news media businesses and online digital platforms, specifically Google and Facebook.[1] Pirate Party Australia finds little to support in this legislation, and much of concern.

This code has provoked outcry from business advocates, but also those two platforms themselves with Facebook claiming publishers would be able to “charge us for as much content as they want at a price with no clear limits”[2] and Google claiming “The law would force us to give an unfair advantage to one group of businesses – news media businesses – over everyone else who has a website, YouTube channel or small business”[3] and it is an “unfair arbitration process that ignores the real-world value Google provides to news publishers and opens up to enormous and unreasonable demands.”[4] There is are elements of hyperbole and truth in these claims, and Google is correct in noting that only large businesses with a turnover of at least $150,000 would be able eligible to participate in this arbitration.[4]

Two years ago, we supported digital right activists as European Pirates[5] and digital platforms[6] stood side by side to oppose the European Union’s “link tax” which would see a draconian copyright regime be imposed on hyperlinks and undermine the fundamental building blocks of the open web. The Australian Pirate Party also considers the use of article snippets to be “fair use” for all, a concept we and numerous economists have argued for strongly but continues to be blocked by the Liberal National Party and Australian Labor Party.

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Pirate Party calls on the government to suspend flawed Centrelink debt recovery program

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Since reports first surfaced of issues with Centrelink’s new data matching systems linked to Australian Tax Office data, Pirate Party Australia’s social media accounts have been swamped with stories of incorrect debt claims going back many years, including debts from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.

It is clear from many reports that Centrelink is automatically generating flawed debts based on algorithms that will obviously produce incorrect results[1], this new attempt by the government to crassly reduce spending on social security has revealed their true policy: to treat anyone who makes a legitimate claim as guilty until proven innocent.

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Pirate Party proposes a basic income for all

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“Pirate Party Australia is pleased to announce our basic income policy,[1]” said NSW senate candidate Sam Kearns. “Technology is going to impact on work in many ways, abolishing many jobs that currently employ thousands of people. Work will become increasingly uncertain and many people will find themselves without the means to survive.[2] We have a choice as a society, do we want to create an antagonism between workers and the machines that are replacing them? Or do we want to ease the social cost of automation by ensuring everyone has a solid economic foundation that reduces the economic and social damage of people losing their job?”

“The current welfare system is woefully inadequate to deal with these coming changes,” Mr Kearns continued. “Where other parties support people languishing on the dole, barely able to keep their heads above water, we propose granting all Australians a basic income regardless of situation. This will reduce the labyrinthine bureaucracy running our social security system and provide certainty for anyone unfortunate enough to lose their job.”

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Pirate Party Australia Webcast – Episode 13

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The webcast returns for a new season this week and Sam introduces new co-host Brandon Selic to the show. They discuss the coming election, Pirate Party Australia’s senate candidates, the 2016 federal budget and asylum seekers. Subscribe to the feed, or view past episodes.

Link mentioned in the budget discussion:

Guess whose electorate negatively gears the most…

Podcast (webcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:41 — 58.3MB)

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