Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Given it is now almost two weeks since the Treasurer delivered his budget, can the Treasurer now provide figures for the year-by-year cost of each stage of his seven-year personal income tax scheme? If not, how can he expect the parliament to vote for his scheme?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer the member to my earlier answers on this point. I note that it is always one rule for the Labor Party and another rule for everyone else. I'm looking here at:

Labor's plan to crack down on tax loopholes, protect pensioners, and pay for schools and hospitals

I'm also looking at what they call:

A Fairer Tax System: dividend imputation reform

For all these policies they have provided a 10-year estimate and a four-year estimate, but no year-by-year estimates after the four years. They expect the government to do something they don't do themselves.

But, more than that, they released policies on negative gearing and CGT back in 2016. Did they release the PBO costings? No. For family tax benefit B, did they release the costings from the PBO? No. The Making Superannuation Fairer package—no, they haven't released that. Tobacco taxes—no, they didn't release that. The half a per cent Medicare increase in the top two tax brackets—they never released that. The trusts tax of 2017—they didn't release that. The retirees tax of 2018—they didn't release that. The Labor Party think that they can run the country like they run unions—one rule for the union bosses and one rule for everyone else. The union bosses get the credit cards; the union workers get the bills. That's what we get from the Labor Party. They come in here knowing full well how budgets work. Well, I assume the shadow Treasurer knows how they work, and he will understand exactly what the policies are.

What our tax plan does is provide real reward for effort. It's a plan, a real plan, that deals with real problems in the tax system. It deals with bracket creep, which the opposition seems not too willing to engage with us on. Under our plan, someone on full-time average wages will be paying less tax over the next 10 years. Under their plan, they will get swallowed up by bracket creep. That's what will happen with Labor's plan. Labor should support the government in addressing bracket creep, in ensuring that, as Australians put extra effort in and extra hours in, they shouldn't have to pay higher rates of tax. Under our full plan, 94 per cent of Australians will face no higher than 32½c as their marginal rate of tax. That's a plan. What we've got in our budget is a plan for a stronger economy; it's a plan to reward Australians who are working harder and expect to keep the money they've earned, and the Labor Party just wants to rip it away from them.