Independent Senator for South Australia Nick Xenophon writes:
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I am challenging the Federal Government to put an end to the “obscenely generous” tax write-offs for Managed Investment Schemes and Carbon Sink Forestry Schemes.
This challenge follows the latest collapse of an MIS, Great Southern, announced today. This follows the demise last month of Timbercorp the other major MIS player in the market.
The MIS experiment has failed, at a huge cost to taxpayers and more importantly to the Murray- Darling Basin. These schemes have put a huge demand on water that is unsustainable and unfair to family farm irrigators.
There has been a total lack of Government scrutiny over the billions of dollars that have been pumped into MIS since the Howard Government allowed for a free for all just 10 years ago. That includes a lack of scrutiny over outrageous management fees charged, as well as the impact on the water resources of the Murray-Darling.
There is no doubt that the crisis in the Basin has been exacerbated by the tens of thousands of hectares of crops that have been planted for the tax write-off, rather than any real market driven demand.
Family farms across the Basin were “completely disadvantaged” by the tax concessions MISs received.I’ve flagged a private Senator’s Bill to remove the concessions that would be introduced into the Spring Session of Parliament.
The demise of Timbercorp, and now Great Southern, should jolt the major parties to reconsider their support for this ill-conceived policy that has ripped the guts out of the Murray-Darling Basin.
If Wayne Swan is worried about tax rorts, and reducing the deficit he could do a lot worse than to crack down on MISs immediately.
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