The most expensive thing in a McDonald’s Big Mac® is not the patty or the labour cost, but the intellectual property that McDonald’s claims to minimise tax in Australia.

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The Big Four banks are hurtling to a record $33bn profit this year fired by $13bn in risk free Pandemic aid. Callum Foote checks out the latest profits for Westpac, NAB, CBA and ANZ – and the TFF effect.

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ANZ is now free to pull a Richard Branson and licence its brand to sell ANZ-branded financial products through its non-banking and non-financially regulated wing after regulators approved its restructuring, reports Callum Foote.

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On the quiet, ANZ has executed a major restructure, mimicking Macquarie Bank’s “good bank, bad bank” model, in a move to quarantine the bank as it expands into riskier business. Callum Foote reports.

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Will Dominic Perrottet and Chris Minns “do a Palaszczuk” and hike coal royalties on multinationals now reaping super-profits from the War in Ukraine, or are they too scared of a coal lobby backlash? Michael West reports.

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Donald Trump knowingly committed dozens of brazen tax frauds during the six years when he ran for office and was President. Trump biographer and tax avoidance expert David Cay Johnston reports.

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It’s a post-Christmas feast. We are rolling out the Top 40 Tax Dodgers, the crème de la crème of Australia’s biggest and meanest tax tricksters. Callum Foote reports.

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Josh Frydenberg as treasurer and secret treasurer Scott Morrison made a motza for foreign vulture funds in last year’s takeover boom and record Aussie assets sell-off. Who knew what when, and why are we flogging essential monopoly services to cuff-linked tax crooks?

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Dixon Advisory clients will a piddling 4c in the dollar back from their savings if they accept PwC’s deed at the creditors’ meeting today. A classic case of hubris, greed, hard-selling and poor management

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“Hi Babe, always enjoy our romps” is not the type of evidence you’d expect in a corporate regulator’s case against an advocate for bank victims. Callum Foote explores ASIC’s curious prosecution of Geoff Shannon of Unhappy Banking fame, a case which has embroiled the National Australia Bank.

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The big four Aussie banks have posted combined profits of $29bn, a 10% increase over last year, with more to come as interest rates rise

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The schism between the lifters and leaners in corporate Australia has deepened. BHP, Rio and the banks are tipping in massive tax while tax paid by fossil fuel giants remains paltry, abjectly failing to merit a social licence to operate in Australia. Callum Foote peruses the latest tax data.

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Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers still have a bit of work to do to catch up with Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey, but only when it comes to corporate tax avoidance. Callum Foote reports on budget measures to crack down on the biggest scam in town.

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A new report has revealed how the tech giant Microsoft avoids paying tax on more than $5 billion of revenue in Australia alone while raking in hundreds of millions in government contracts.

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FinTech companies in Australia are scraping and selling users’ sensitive banking data in breach of privacy regulation.

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FinTech companies collect your bank details and your password. They can access your bank accounts, keep your data, and sell your data too.

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Lendlease whistleblower Tony Watson is fighting the big property developer in court as the Tax Office investigation into the $1bn tax scam grinds on behind the scenes. Michael West reports.

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The Reserve Bank goes it alone to try and quash inflation while gifting Aussie banks risk-free billions, reports Callum Foote.

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It’s been a golden era for Google Australia, Netflix Australia and Facebook Australia. Bunkered in pandemic lockdowns, Australians spent record time on their screens. How then did the digital giants rake in so much cash but pay so little tax?

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Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young is moving to spln off its audit business, in a global corporate move which follows a string of scandals and audit failures and has radical implications for the world’s most powerful financial firms. Michael Sainsbury reports.

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Timid, worse than Donald Trump but better than the Coalition. That’s the verdict on Labor’s policy to combat multinational tax avoiders. Although large corporations have been subsidised through the pandemic like never before, they will still now enjoy years of tax-free profits thanks to gaping holes in Australia’s tax system. Callum Foote consults tax law experts.

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Tucked away in the maelstrom of Budget announcements is a measure which turns private pension funds into the financial equivalent of a magic pudding; valuable, inexhaustible and sheltered from tax until ready to be passed on to the next generation.

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After two weeks, two long weeks of fawning Budget coverage, leak after leak, story after story brown-nosing the Coalition, reciting Treasurer Frydenberg’s talking points; after all that grovelling free publicity, what do they do? They miss the story. Michael West repots on the Budget.

This post was originally published on Michael West Media.