Money laundering in politics

Mike Bolan

When a government provides grants, subsidies and other financial benefits to a non-government body, such as a corporation, and the receiving organisation runs that money through their accounts then uses some of it to pay donations to political parties to keep the money coming, why isn’t that ‘money laundering’?

The effect of allowing political donations from recipients of grants serves to conceal a flow of money from the taxpayer into party coffers. This kind of ‘donation’ can too easily lead to governments supporting favoured industries in order to keep their party political funds topped up at taxpayer expense.

Recipients of taxpayer largesse enjoy major advantages over all others — they get a mass of free cash and they can use some of it to buy influence and further favours, all at the expense of taxpayers, particularly those working on industries trying to compete with subsidised industries.

Isn’t it time to change the law to prevent this thinly disguised tax money laundering activity and the huge market distortions that it creates?