Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

As I said, the shadow Assistant Treasurer observed:

Humans typically … work harder when the tax rate falls—

and that is a very good insight, for which we thank him! Another interesting insight on the matter of taxation and motivation came from the member for McMahon back in 2005, when he said in this place:

We all like a tax cut. Everybody likes a tax cut—

not anymore, apparently!—

People at the upper end of the income scale like a tax cut, and they deserve a tax cut. Under Labor they would get one.

Well, under this Labor Party, what they would get is a tax increase.

A number of these questions, full of assumptions and numbers, have been based on a completely false premise—that the budget deals with the deficit levy. It does not. The deficit levy was introduced for three years. The Labor Party criticised it trenchantly and then finally voted for it. They voted for it to be a three-year levy. If they want to propose tomorrow night that the top marginal rate be increased by two per cent, then they are free to do so, but that would be a consequence of their policy, not ours. It would be a change in their policy, to increase income tax.

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