Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services. Will the minister update the House on how the government's business tax cuts will benefit all hardworking Australians? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches that pose a threat to Australian businesses, including and especially to the 15,000 hardworking small businesses in my electorate of Robertson?

Mr Hammond interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Perth is warned. He has been interjecting all through question time. The minister has the call.

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

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. She is a wonderful advocate in this place for the more than 15,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in her local community. Just like the member for Robertson, the government is firmly focused on getting our economic and taxation settings right for those small and medium-sized enterprises. We want to make sure that we can grow our economy, boost Australian jobs and increase Australian wages. We know that a strong economy means strong jobs and that those strong jobs mean more opportunity for all Australians, including for the member for Robertson in her local community. That is why this government has reduced taxation for small and medium-sized businesses. After all, small businesses represent 97 per cent of all business in this country. They employ more than 6.5 million Australians. That's about half of the workforce here in Australia. We have cut the company tax rate to 27½ per cent for these businesses with a turnover of less than $25 million, and we plan to reduce this further, to 25 per cent.

By contrast, those opposite will raise taxes on those entrepreneurial Australian businesses that employ all of those Australians I mentioned before. Those small businesses with a turnover of between $2 million and $25 million will see their tax hiked to 30 per cent. That is more than 100,000 small businesses employing more than 2.2 million Australians in this turnover bracket—they will lose out under Labor. Not only will they see their taxes increase but those small businesses with a turnover of between $2 million and up to $10 million will also lose access to such concessions as the instant asset write-off.

On top of this, we hear more recently that those opposite are going to slug these small, hardworking businesses even further with their new trust policy—270,000 Australian small businesses will be slugged more by those opposite. Labor has not one policy to grow the economy, not one policy to create a job and not one policy to increase Australian wages. They have just one big policy: to increase taxes on hardworking Australians. Shame on them.