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

I thank the Prime Minister for the opportunity to respond. The member for Batman is well known for saying that tax is not a burden—apparently, tax is something that people love; they think it's fantastic. Tax is a burden on Australians who work hard, because it's their money, and we think they should keep as much of it as possible. What the member for Batman and the Labor Party don't understand is that, the more you earn, the more tax you pay.

Over the period of the tax plan that we have had passed through the parliament today, someone earning $200,000 would have paid $458,809, and they will have relief amounting to a 2½ per cent reduction. If you're earning $50,000, over that same period of time you will pay $56,000 in tax and you will get a 6.3 per cent reduction in your tax—so more than twice the reduction in tax for those on low incomes than those on higher incomes, which the member for Batman and others on that side like to demonise. Those in the highest tax bracket pay 30 per cent of the tax in this country and they represent four per cent of the taxpayers in this country. At the end of the tax plan, they will account for 36 per cent of the tax paid. What the Labor Party doesn't understand is that you always run out of other people's money when you keep taxing them more and more and more.

What our plan does is fair. What our plan does is to understand that all Australians who work and pay tax work hard—not some more than others; they all work hard. And they all deserve tax relief, because that's how you create a stronger economy. Our plan is not based on creating winners and losers and pitting them against each other. The Labor Party's plan is to try to whack some with tax and try to con others that they're trying to cut their tax. Every time they try and buy an investment property—because one in five police officers do, and thousands of nurses and thousands of teachers do—you're going to whack tax up on them. Retirees who have done nothing more than buy shares in Australian companies—you're going to put $5 million in tax on them. Small businesses with greater than $2 million in turnover—you're going to whack taxes up on them as well. People who are making contributions to their super—you're going to put more tax on them.

It will be $200 billion in a tax avalanche coming from the Labor Party on the Australian economy.

See this speech in context