Australia’s largest corporations tend to operate in sectors of the economy that are characterised by a high degree of capital intensity and economies of scale. Different economic performance factors affect particular sectors of the economy at different points in the economic cycle. In particular, these cyclical factors have influenced the tax performance of the energy and resources segment in recent years.
Tax payable was dominated by the banking and finance segment in 2015–16. The broader sales and services segment accounted for the second largest share of tax payable, albeit from a significantly larger number of companies, while manufacturing had a low share of tax payable relative to the number of companies operating in this industry. The share of tax payable attributable to energy and resources was lower than in previous years.
Figure 9: Corporate entities, by industry segment, 2015–16