Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Refining and Improving Our Tax System) Bill 2023. The coalition will be supporting this bill. The coalition stands for lower taxes, not higher taxes. We believe it's important to have a tax system that encourages people to get out, invest, take risks, work hard and get rewards for it, and that is absolutely central to our core beliefs. But we also recognise an effective tax system is a requirement for effective government. Australia, when compared with other advanced economies, already collects a lot of tax. In 2021-22 the Australian government collected $550 billion in tax receipts. As a percentage of GDP we collect more income tax than most of the G20 economies and almost all of South-East Asia—more income tax, for instance, than South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand.

Tax is the foundation of the social contract between government and the people. We collect tax because we want good government services, and there is a role for government. For the majority of Australians, tax is the main experience of the coercive power of government in their lives. For this reason discussions about tax go beyond technicalities to the very essence of what our country is and what our democracy is, so it's critical governments keep their promises on tax. Governments should always keep their promises on tax—something we haven't, sadly, seen from this government. It's critical that governments get their tax settings right, and that means ensuring our tax system is simpler and fairer for all individuals and families, making sure our tax system facilitates—rather than blocks—economic activity, investment, work and taking a risk for small businesses, sole traders and the big employers, heavy industry, as well. It means making sure that our tax system provides certainty and predictability for our retirees, investors and our not-for-profit sector.

Fundamentally, it's critical that governments never lose sight of who pays the taxes. There is no magic money tree that the ATO can shake as it pleases, just as there's no magic pudding and no goose laying golden eggs. Tax is paid by individuals and hardworking families, small businesses, employers, service providers, manufacturers, producers and consumers. They all pay tax, and it all comes out of their pockets. Behind every dollar of tax raised is a person trying to get by in the economy, and that's why we can't tax our way to prosperity. Every dollar of tax is a dollar that could have been spent on school uniforms, new machinery, a pay rise for staff—all of those things can be paid—

I'll take the interjection from the member opposite, who I think would like to tax everything that moves, which is the Labor way. They love to tax everything that moves. In 2019 we saw an election on taxes, and we know what happened. We shouldn't talk about tax reform as raising more taxes. When those opposite talk about tax reform, we know what they mean—they mean higher taxes. Instead, we should talk about how we make the tax system simpler and fairer to better support aspiration and enterprise in this country for everyday Australians. That's what we need to focus on when we talk about tax.

When it comes to this bill—and this has been brought forward by the government—the good news is that we do see some of these principles being followed. That should come as no surprise because not one, not two, but every measure of this bill is an initiative of the former coalition government, from double taxation treaties to equalising tax treatment across entities, streamlining charities and administration, and cutting red tape for small businesses and brewers. This is a bill that extends the coalition's proud record of cutting and lowering the cost of doing business and streamlining our tax system. This is something we haven't seen enough of yet from those opposite, but we're very pleased this has come forward. In fact, the last bill of this nature is currently stuck in the Senate. Small businesses are waiting for certainty around tax incentives which they were promised back in May last year. This is despite the government expediting all sorts of interventions in our economy or cultural priorities: DGR status for the voice was rushed through; unprecedented market intervention in our gas market was rushed through; reregulation of the labour market was rushed through. But tax incentives for small businesses—delay, delay, delay. So we see where the priorities of those opposite are. They're very clear. But at least this is something that we can get behind and support.

While we will be supporting this bill, we will rely on the Senate economics committee to ask questions and make sure that it's being done the right way, in the spirit of wanting these issues to succeed. Sadly, while this bill has many measures we can support, it doesn't make up for Labor's broken promises on franking credits, on superannuation taxes and on taxing unrealised capital gains. I tell you, that's really opening up a whole new area of taxation for those opposite, which I'm sure they're looking forward to getting themselves stuck into. Many small businesses will be captured by Labor's superannuation changes and their attack on unrealised capital gains. Many charities will lose out in Labor's broken promise on franking credits. It's a full-blown assault on franking credits—something they promised they wouldn't do, but it's clear now that it's happening.

Labor's broken promise on superannuation taxes means that, with soaring cost-of-living pressures, Australians will be worse off as they look forward to their retirements. This is not just a broken promise; it undermines confidence in our superannuation system. The whole point of our superannuation system is that people put money away for extended periods of time—often not for just 10 or 20 years but for 30, 40 or even 50 years. That means there is enormous trust that has to be put in politicians in this place that they are not making changes that would breach trust with the Australian people on money that is put away for very long periods of time.

Despite promising no changes to superannuation before the election, this government is proposing doubling super taxes on one in 10 Australians. That's their numbers. By the time they retire, it could easily be many more. The government are stopping companies from offering franking credits to Australian investors, super funds and charities. It's important to remember that franking credits are not to the benefit of the company; they are to the benefit of the individual, the investor.

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