SYDNEY: Rupert Murdoch’s Australian operations pocketed an Aus$882m ($800m) tax rebate from the new government, reports said yesterday, blowing a major hole in the country’s budget.
The massive payout to News Corp — one of the largest ever made by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) — related to complex shuffling of assets through local and overseas businesses in 1989 that netted the company a Aus$2bn tax deduction, according to The Australian Financial Review.
The payout was a significant element of the Aus$17bn spending blowout unveiled by the new government in December.
In July 2013 Australia’s Federal Court ruled that News Corp ought to be allowed to claim the deduction and the ATO had 28 days to decide to appeal. The ATO decided against such a move, as Murdoch’s newspapers waged a concerted campaign against the then-Labour government. AFP
