The Age reports that the ACT Government has pulled in $77 million after busting a tax avoidance scheme being perpetrated by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
The money will allow the territory to present an almost balanced budget this financial year and represents a stunning victory by the nation’s smallest jurisdiction over the international corporate giant, which reported revenue of nearly $4 billion in 2009-10.
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News Corporation’s Australian arm, News Limited, owns newspapers including The Australian and the Herald Sun.The company did not include the massive tax and penalty payment in its December quarter update. A News Corporation spokesman said yesterday that the case had been settled confidentially and declined to comment further.
The ACT government is also refusing to talk about the money, citing tax laws.
But documents reveal a four-year investigation by Treasury Commissioner for ACT Revenue Graeme Dowell and his officials.
It’s good to get a win from time to time.