The hidden nasty for Australian investors in Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill'

Sydney Morning Herald

2 days ago

New York: A proposed new tax on foreigners buried in the 'big, beautiful bill' championed by US President Donald Trump has alarmed the Australian business community in New York, with multinationals, super funds and high-net-worth individuals all liable to be hit.
Section 899 of Trump's key taxation bill, which has passed the US House of Representatives and now heads to the Senate, would impose 'increased rates of tax on foreign persons of discriminatory foreign countries', starting at 5 per cent and increasing annually to as high as 20 per cent.
A number of Australian policies are considered unfair or discriminatory by the US government.
The tax threat has unnerved Wall Street and rattled figures in the US-Australian business community, as well as at the highest levels of the Australian consulate in New York.
American Australian Association president Steven Marshall said there was growing concern among Australian investors about the proposal, 'particularly its implications for cross-border investment and taxation'.
But he noted the bill was not finalised. 'The full details and potential impact remain unclear. We'll have a better sense of the real consequences once the legislation progresses to the US Senate and more concrete provisions are released.'
Michael Brown, a senior analyst at Melbourne-based broker Pepperstone, whose clients are largely Australian, said: 'If it ends up passing through the Senate and becoming law, it's going to be incredibly punitive to actually invest in the United States.'
Brown said his firm had been flooded with inquiries from Australian and European clients about the proposed law, which escaped initial headlines about the 'big, beautiful bill' but has now become widely seen as a secret 'sting in the tail' of the legislation.