Israel’s trade and technology leaders have called on Australia to lower its tax rate in order to remain globally competitive, at a bilateral investment summit in Sydney.
Professor Amnon Shashua, co-founder of Mobileye, an Israeli company developing computer vision algorithms which was Israel’s biggest ever IPO, said Australia should lower its company tax rate to encourage multinational tech giants to set up shop down under.
“When it comes to fostering innovation, the Israeli governments 20 years ago started their own venture capital funds. That VC money went into funding start-ups but in a very generous way. It wasn’t in return for equity, it was to foster innovation,” Professor Shashua said at the Bridge Summit event, organised by Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry and the Sydney-based Israel Trade Commission.
“It also lowered its company tax rates, high tech companies can pay 12 or 9 per cent, and now they have a new initiative of 6 per cent. Multinational businesses will build bases in your country, they’ll hire people, and they’ll share know-how. Much of the company culture in Israel came from this historic investment that the government made.”
Read the full story by David Swan in The Australian.