The Greens think it’s time we had little more for Queenslanders, and a little less for the big banks.
Australian banks are some of the most profitable in the world. Over the last four years the five biggest banks have made $173 billion in pre-tax profits. The biggest banks get special protection from the government because they are seen as “too big to fail”, which amounts to a huge effective subsidy.
Banks have made massive profits ripping off ordinary people. A study by the University of Melbourne found that bank ‘misconduct’ had cost Australians over $201 billion over the last five years. Based on Queensland’s share of the economy that means Queenslanders have been ripped off to the tune of $38 billion. In other words, the big banks have ripped $38 billion out of the Queensland economy and given nothing back. It’s time for that to change.
The Greens will:
The Queensland Greens will impose a State-based Big Bank Levy of 0.05% of total liabilities per quarter on the five biggest banks operating in Queensland and raise over $4.7 billion over four years, or $1.2 billion every year:
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The rate will be set at 0.05% per quarter (or 0.2% per year) and apply to Queensland’s share of bank liabilities (which is their main source of revenue) that are subject to the Commonwealth’s Major Bank levy (Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ, NAB and Macquarie).
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The Queensland share of bank liabilities will be calculated using Queensland’s Gross State Product as a share of national GDP which is currently 18.9%.
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Banks will be prohibited by law from passing on the cost of the levy directly to customers.
By making sure big banks pay their fair share, Queensland could fund 4,000 nurses, 4,000 teachers, 10 new schools or 5 regional hospitals every single year.