CANBERRA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A controversial levy on Australia's "big five" banks passed through the Australian Senate overnight, with the 0.06 percent tax expected to raise more than 6.2 billion Australian dollars (4.71 billion U.S dollars) over the next four years.
In the coalition government's push to return the nation's budget to surplus by 2021, it announced the controversial changes in the federal budget in May. At the time, it drew fierce criticism from the banking sector, which declared the levy would be passed onto consumers, making it effectively another tax on Australian citizens.
But the measures, which will raise 1.6 billion Australian dollars (1.21 billion U.S. dollars) in the first year, passed the Senate late Monday night, with support from the Labor opposition and the Greens.
Under the final legislation, the levy will be subjected to a review after two years to determine whether or not it is doing its intended job.
One major point of contention regarding the legislation was the exclusion of major foreign banks such as HSBC and BNP Paribas, but Finance Minister Mathias Cormann dismissed the claims, saying they did not fall under the "major bank" category, at least within Australia.
The banks affected by the levy are the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, National Australia Bank, Westpac and the Macquarie Bank.
The measures were opposed by the One Nation party, with representative Brian Burston describing the levy as a "lazy" solution.
