Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

It does pay to have a memory in this place. It is like Groundhog Day, in one sense. Thirteen different taxes Labor has introduced or increased since 2007, since they were elected. That is quite a record. They have not abolished any taxes, but they have increased or introduced 13 taxes in just three years. And now the Treasurer does not bother to turn up at the announcement of a tax. He cannot even be bothered turning up because it has just become so commonplace. We could go through them: the alcopops tax, $3.1 billion; a new tax on Australians working overseas, $675 million; cutting Australians’ tax-free superannuation contributions, $2.8 billion; restrictions on business losses, $700 million; changes to employee share schemes, $200 million; the cigarette tax hike, $5 billion; and the mining tax—well, God! How much is that? We do not know. And you know what? They do not know either. How is that, the mining tax? Ethanol taxation increases—I will be interested to see what the minister for regional development thinks about that. He is quite silent.

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