'If we don’t act, we’ll end up like the US': Greens leader Larissa Waters calls for tax on the 1%

The Greens are ramping up pressure on the Albanese government to tax billionaires and multinational corporations, arguing Australia risks becoming “like America” unless it tackles soaring wealth inequality and the housing crisis.

Speaking on the Australia Institute’s Follow the Money podcast, Greens leader, Senator Larissa Waters, said the party’s new “Tax the 1%” campaign was aimed at securing major reforms that target ultra-wealthy Australians and gas exporters.

“We are sick of ordinary people struggling to make ends meet …while billionaires and big corporations continue to make record profits,” Senator Waters said.

The Queensland Senator accused the current tax system of being designed to benefit the wealthy, claiming “one in three big corporations” paid no company tax while billionaires were increasing their wealth by hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.

“It’s actually a joke. It’s so ridiculously unfair,” she said.

“We can have a system that works for the community and if we try to get those corporate and ultra-wealthy tentacles off our decision makers, we have a chance at having some equitable reform.”

The Greens are hoping to “mobilise the 99 per cent” to pressure Prime Minister Anthony Albanese into prioritising ordinary Australians.

“If we don’t take action now, we’re going to end up like the US where wealth inequality is completely baked in,” she said.

“Where homelessness is utterly entrenched and where our school and hospital services are just not accessible in a timely manner for ordinary people.”

The comments come as debate intensifies ahead of the federal budget over how the government should respond to rising living costs, housing affordability pressures and growing calls for tax reform.

Labor has announced a new gas reservation policy that will require energy giants to set aside 20 per cent of exports for the east-coast domestic market from July next year.

However, critics argue it won’t raise a cent and is merely a distraction to avoid mounting pressure for a 25 per cent gas export tax.

Senator Waters said the levy “is only fair”, pointing out that multinational gas companies were profiting from global instability while Australians faced higher prices.

“They are already absolutely fleecing people at the bowser and at the checkout and avoiding tax like there’s no tomorrow,” she said.

The Australia Institute’s Deputy Director and podcast host Ebony Bennett said the government already had the tools available to deliver meaningful cost-of-living relief.

“There are plenty of options on the table for the government to turn the myth of the ‘fair go’ into a reality for far more Australians,” she said.

“The system allows a select few to accumulate colossal wealth while far too many Australians struggle to put a roof over their heads or pay for the essentials, but it doesn’t have to stay this way.”

Analysis by the Australia Institute shows the measure could raise about $17 billion a year – money that could be reinvested into public services and cost-of-living relief.

The Greens’ leader also pointed to evidence heard during the Senate inquiry into gas taxation, where several fossil fuel giants acknowledged a gas export tax would come out of profits rather than being passed on to consumers.

Senator Waters dismissed claims by the sector that higher taxes would see investment move offshore, crippling the industry.

“What a crock of an argument,” she said.

“We hear every time some new proposal to tax the big corporations is made, they freak out and claim that the sky will fall in, that this will shut down the industry. It is absolute rubbish.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has signaled the budget will aim to address “intergenerational inequality”, with reports suggesting he plans to wind back or abolish the 50 per cent capital gains tax to help address the nation’s housing affordability crisis.

“Our tax system is written so that professional property investors can accumulate homes like a dragon sitting on a pile of gold and they get taxpayer subsidies to do that,” said Senator Waters.

“[It] makes it easier for a professional property investor to buy their 60th house than it does for someone to buy their first, and that is so obscene.”

She said the Greens would support Labor pursuing reforms through Parliament, pointing out the government already had the numbers with Greens backing in the Senate.

“The only barrier is the government’s desire to be better,” she said.

“In the Senate, if they choose to work with the Greens, we can pass things as quick as a flash.”

Senator Waters said the revenue raised could fund expanded public services, including free childcare, free public transport, and dental and mental health care through Medicare.