(13 October 2017 – Australia) ANZ has not ruled out passing on the costs of the mooted Western Australian and proposed South Australian bank levies.
Western Australia is the latest state to consider introducing a state tax on banks as it tries to plug a major budget black hole.
“The bank tax could raise A$800 million over four years, so it is obviously something we are seriously considering,” WA Premier Mark McGowan said.
ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott criticised state-imposed bank taxes as “bad policy”, in an interview this week, saying, “It's a distortion and we know that investment goes where it's welcome.”
“If some states have taxes [that] others don't, that will have an impact. I think it's bad policy for those states,” he added.
Elliott disagreed with the governments' labelling of the levy as a tax on bank-to-bank lending.
“The reality is that it's a cost — it's no different than if wages or the rents I pay for my branches go up,” Elliott said.
“Either we have to save that money from somewhere else, [or] customers have to pay more, or our shareholders.”