Expanding Australia’s Tax Treaty Network submission

The Property Council welcomes the opportunity to provide comments to Treasury’s
consultation on expanding Australia’s tax treaty network.
Double taxation agreements (DTAs) are an important mechanism within the tax framework
which enable greater flows of investment and trade between countries while providing tax
integrity to government and certainty to business.

We support the Government’s initiative to expand the number of tax treaties in order to cover
80% of foreign investment in Australia and trillions of dollars in Australia’s two-way trade and
investment.

To achieve these purported aims, our tax treaty network should focus on expanding to markets
that have strong trade and investment links with Australia. This is why we believe that Hong
Kong should be one of the jurisdictions targeted for tax treaty negotiations in the short to
medium term, as well as consideration of negotiation with other major economies such as
Brazil.