Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Goldstein for his question. Firstly, he'll be pleased to know, like everyone else on this side of the House, that there are more than a million extra working Australians in this country since the coalition came to government back in 2013. Those working Australians, over the next four years, will pay $954 billion in income tax, and over the next 10 years working Australians in this country will pay more than $3,000 billion in income tax. So I think it's the right time to have a tax plan that comes before this parliament, as was passed through this House yesterday, that provides $140 billion worth of tax relief to not just some but all working Australians. They're going to pay over $3,000 billion in personal taxes over the next decade, and we think it's entirely reasonable that we can bring a tax reform plan in here that deals with bracket creep and with a simpler tax system. As the Prime Minister said, 94 per cent of Australians will be paying no more than 32½c as their marginal tax rate, dealing with immediate relief for low- and middle-income earners. That's what was put to the House last night. That's what was passed through this House last night.

But, before it was passed, what the Labor party did was strip away steps 2 and 3 of that plan and replace them with other measures. Now the cost of what Labor put into the House and voted for last night was to turn a $140 billion tax relief plan into a tax plan that is $70 billion less. That $70 billion is the cost of the changes and the amendments that they put to that bill last night to strip away steps 2 and 3. They've taken a tax relief plan that is worth $140 billion and they've reduced it by $70 billion. That is what the shadow Treasurer did in seeking to rip off working Australians last night. Every single one of them voted to cut that plan in half last night. What it means is as follows. Over the next 10 years, we already know that the combined total of the oppressive tax burden will be $220 billion. Last night, they just jacked another $70 billion onto that. It will be $290 billion. They wanted to turn a $140 billion tax plan into one that is just over $70 billion. The shiftiness of it! They came into this place, said they were voting for it in the House and then said they're going to vote against it in the Senate. How can anyone believe a Labor Party that does one thing in this chamber and another thing in the other chamber? Unless they want to change their tune, unless they want to tell Australians they can get the full $140 billion— (Time expired)

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