Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services. How will our enterprise tax plan proposals for small business and income tax cuts for individuals help grow the economy and create jobs and higher wages for the hardworking Australians of Dunkley and elsewhere?

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I very much thank the member for Dunkley for his question. I am very pleased to say that the parliament today passed the government's legislation to provide a tax cut to around 3.1 million Australian taxpayers in 2016-17 by extending the third income tax bracket from $80,000 to $87,000. That will mean that over 500,000 average Australian full-time wage earners will now face a marginal tax rate of 32.5c in the dollar instead of 37 cents in the dollar, preventing them from moving on to the higher marginal tax rate.

In Dunkley this accounts for around 2,600 individual taxpayers, who will now have access to tax relief of up to $315 each year. On this side we believe in cutting taxes, rewarding initiative, rewarding hard work, growing the economy and creating jobs. We are doing exactly the same for small business. I know that, as the son of a small business owner, the member Dunkley feels this very keenly, and he is a strong advocate for the more than 16,000 small businesses in his community. He has very kindly taken me to visit a number of them. One such business was Hart Marine. Mal Hart employs 50 staff, mostly locals, and manufactures pilot boats. These are such great boats that they are exported overseas. Over 30 years in which he has owned the business he has employed more than 100 apprentices. His business has a turnover of less than $10 million, yet it is creating opportunity and local jobs and helping to grow our economy.

It is businesses like his, businesses that have a turnover of over $2 million but less than $10 million, that will benefit from the Turnbull government's enterprise tax plan, with cuts to the company tax rate to 27.5 per cent from 1 July this year. It is going to help his business and more than 870,000 businesses throughout the country. It will also give these businesses access to tax concessions, such as the instant asset write-off, which will help them to invest in their business.

But it is those opposite that stand in the way of these small businesses growing, that stand in the way of these small businesses employing and that stand in the way of growing our economy, because they are going to block this tax relief for small business and stop the growing of the Australian economy. Instead of listening to union boss mates over on that side, they should instead listen to the Council of Small Business of Australia, who said yesterday that the changes to company tax rates will deliver the best bang for the buck in terms of driving economic growth. (Time expired)