Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Herbert for his question. He has served with great distinction on the battle field on behalf of our country, and he brings those qualities to the parliament. I had the great pleasure to join the member for Herbert in his electorate last week, where we met with farmers, graziers and small business owners—some of the 70,549 taxpayers in the electorate of Herbert that will get a tax cut as a result of the coalition's legislation that passed this parliament. And 13,265 small businesses will be able to access the instant asset write-off, which was extended in the budget to $30,000 for companies with a turnover of up to $50 million.

I can inform the House that, as of today, 3.2 million Australians have lodged their tax return for the 2018-19 year. That's nearly a 25 per cent increase on the same period last year. The tax office has seen over $3 billion in refunds make its way to Australian taxpayers' pockets. That is money to be spent at local businesses supporting Australian jobs.

The changes we've made to the tax system are substantial. We have increased the thresholds. For the 19c rate, we have increased the threshold from $37,000 to $45,000. And we have lowered the rate. We have lowered the 32½c rate down to 30c. And we have abolished a bracket—a whole tax bracket. The 37c in the dollar bracket has been abolished. From $45,000 to $200,000, you will pay a marginal rate of tax of no more than 30c in the dollar. That is tackling bracket creep. So, if you're on average full-time earnings, you can get a promotion, you can get a wage increase, but you won't get a higher marginal rate of tax.

We passed that legislation against the Labor Party's wishes. They were not in favour of tax cuts. Would you believe that last night in this chamber, at about nine o'clock, the Leader of the Opposition amazingly said the following: 'You've got some tax cuts through, but there's been no tax reform'. No tax reform! We have abolished a whole bracket. Earth to Albanese: 'We've abolished the whole bracket'.

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