Glencore won’t find many friends in Australia

Glencore pays virtually no tax on Australian coal operations

Glencore is in trouble and took drastic action today to shore up its finances. One place they won’t find sympathy is in the court of public opinion.

Last year, the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that Glencore paid virtually no tax over the previous 3 years on $15 billion in revenue in its massive coal mining operations in the country.

The entire Glencore/Xstrata merger saga was really just a lesson in transfer pricing and tax avoidance. Recently, Australian politicians have been on the march trying to close a loophole where Glencore sold coal via Singapore.

In any case, the public everywhere aren’t much of a fan of coal. Marketing videos like this one are the target of parody.