Treasurer indicates Labor may be prepared to stop poker machine and betting companies from accessing tax concessions for R&DThe treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has raised the prospect of stripping gambling companies of their access to government research tax concessions after Australian Tax Office figures showed they had claimed almost $90m in a single year.
“I don’t have an announcement to make today in that regard,” he said. “But I saw when some of that information was released not that long ago, that that’s the sort of issue that warrants our attention. And it will receive our attention.” The treasurer’s comments come as the independent MP Andrew Wilkie is urging federal, state and territory governments to require gambling companies to ensure that money they receive is not the proceeds of crime.
“It’s the right thing to do to return the proceeds of crime to the victim of that crime and in fact, in this country, that is the practice,” Wilkie told ABC Radio National on Monday.