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

) ( ): I thank the member for Stirling for his question, and I acknowledge his experience in the Australian Defence Force. In the member for Stirling's electorate, more than 60,000 people will get a tax cut as a result of the measures announced on Tuesday night in the Morrison government's budget. Tuesday night's budget is going to help create more jobs. Tuesday night's budget will help Australia's economy grow more strongly. Tuesday night's budget will see taxes for millions of Australians lowered.

We know that this side of the House stands for lower taxes. In fact, more than 10 million Australians are getting a tax cut as a result of the extension of the low- and middle-income tax offset for another year. If you are earning between $48,000 and $90,000, you will get an extra $1,080 in your pocket at the end of the tax year. There's also the immediate expensing, which we believe will support around $320 billion of investment, allowing businesses to write off new machinery and equipment that they purchase. From 1 July this year, small businesses will see their company tax rate cut to 25c in the dollar. We've also brought forward, by two years, stage 2 of the tax cuts.

Stage 3 of our tax plan is legislated. That is an extremely important reform. It abolishes a whole tax bracket, the 37c-in-the-dollar tax bracket. It means 95 per cent of taxpayers will pay a marginal rate of no more than 30c in the dollar. It also remains a very progressive tax system. The Leader of the Opposition said in March of this year at the Financial Review conference that he would tell us the Labor Party's position on stage 3 of that legislated tax plan at budget. More than 12 million Australians who will get a tax cut as a result of stage 3 are waiting on the verdict of the Leader of the Opposition.

We on this side of the House supported those legislated tax cuts, but we know that the Leader of the Opposition likes to have a bet each way. He said that he was for the tax cuts when they passed the parliament, but now he's got the member for Rankin, a shadow of a shadow Treasurer, telling us that he doesn't really like the tax cuts. For those Australians watching today's broadcast, if they are a teacher earning $70,000 they will be $620 worse off if the Leader of the Opposition wants to get his way and abolish those tax cuts. If a tradie is earning $80,000 a year, they will be $900 worse off if the Labor Party doesn't support these legislated— (Time expired)

See this speech in context