It is too early to tell if the political posturing around the world clamoring for major corporations to step-up to the plate and pay a fairer share of their profits to the exchequers in which those profits are produced, but it becoming more prevalent and, understandably, hits a chord with the electorate who inevitably have to pay their taxes in full. However, one of the poster boys for tax avoidance (a perfectly legal activity) is Google (GOOG) which paid just £6 million to the UK exchequer in 2011 on a UK turnover of £395 million – UK corporation tax is set at 20%, so a tax bill approaching £80 million would have been nearer to the mark. The search engine giant has already seen its name become a synonym for conducting a search on the internet – “I’ll just Google that…”; now it is taking on a second life which the corporation will be less pleased with: the “Google tax”.

The latest government to introduce a “Google tax” is Australia which announced the move during this week’s budget. Any corporation found to have moved its profits offshore will be taxed at 40%, a 10% penalty levied above the standard (current) Australian corporation tax rate. Australian Treasurer, Scott Morrison, noted “Everyone has to pay their fair share of tax, especially large corporates and multinationals” during his budget presentation. The measures are similar to those put in place in the UK in the March 2015 budget under the coalition government.

Australians will be going to the polls in a couple of months. Under government proposals, on the other hand, Australian corporation tax will gradually be reduced to 25% by 2027. Australia is trying to diminish the importance of mining and commodities exports on the economy by diversification. The nation has been badly hit by falling commodities prices, largely caused by the perceived slowing of the Chinese economy.