Disparities in average rates of company tax across industries

The effect of company tax arrangements across Australian industries has received relatively little attention.This article finds evidence that average tax rates vary considerably across industries. The evidence is found to be reasonably robust with external validation used to confirm results. The average tax rate is found to be relatively high in the finance and insurance industry and relatively low in the most capital-intensive industries, such as electricity, gas and water, and mining. Variations in average tax rates across industries would be expected to have an impact on the way investment is allocated across industries, potentially with a negative impact on productivity and growth. Changes to the company tax rate would be expected to have differing impacts across industries arising from the variations in average tax rates.