The biggest private companies to be exempt from transparency laws.
The Assistant Treasurer's office has confirmed concerns about child kidnappings is one of the reasons the government will move to exempt 700 of Australia's biggest private companies from new tax transparency laws.
Joel Carrett / AAPIMAGE
Today's Australian Financial Review reported the government would move to exclude the mega-rich private companies from opening their tax books to the public on July 1.
A spokesman for the assistant treasurer Josh Frydenberg's office confirmed to BuzzFeed News there are serious concerns wealthy families could become the target of kidnappers, if private companies were included.
"There are a range of personal and commercial concerns about the disclosures. We're talking about private owned companies here," he said.
