Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Disability and Carers (House)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can this arrogant and out-of-touch Prime Minister confirm that, under his unfair budget, a banker from Vaucluse earning a million dollars a year will get a tax cut of over $7,000 a year, his bank will get a company tax cut—with $17 billion going to the big banks—but a hospitality worker from Adelaide will only get a tax cut of $10 a week, and that's before she loses $77 in penalty rates?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course, if the worker the honourable member referred to had been ably represented by the Leader of the Opposition's former union, the penalty rates would have been traded away years ago. Under the Labor Party's proposal on tax, a public school teacher in Victoria would pay between $800 and $1,200 more tax every year. A crane operator would pay between $900 and $1,600 more tax every year. A public school psychologist in New South Wales would pay between $2,300 and $2,800 more tax every year. A forklift driver would pay between $3,800 and $4,500 more tax every year. Coming to Adelaide, a police inspector would pay between $4,000 and $5,200 more tax every year. The Labor Party is led by a man who once proposed a 30 per cent top rate of income tax. Of course, that's the same man who proposed a 25 per cent rate of company tax, as did his offsider, the shadow Treasurer. What we have with our comprehensive tax plan is one that is fair and encourages investment, encourages enterprise and encourages aspiration, and it is highly progressive.

Ms Macklin interjecting—

The honourable member laughs. Well, the honourable member should be aware that, when the plan is fully rolled out in 2024-25, people in the top tax bracket, paying the highest rate of marginal tax, will be paying a larger share of the personal income tax take than they are today, and they will be paying more of that income tax share than they are today. And the person on $200,000 will be paying more than 12½ times more income tax than the person on $41,000. The income tax scheme, the whole structure, remains progressive. The bulk of the tax is paid by people on higher incomes, but what we're doing is encouraging aspiration, enterprise, and people getting ahead, including people working in hospitality, working on lower incomes, because they too want to get ahead and earn big money, like the members of the Labor Party opposite.

Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on why it's important for the government's tax policies to be implemented? How do these policies contribute to the government's plan for a stronger economy for all Australians? And are there any dangers associated with not proceeding with them?

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

I thank the member for La Trobe for his question. The Liberal and National parties are for lower taxes. That's what we're for: we're for lower taxes. We're for lower personal taxes; we're for lower business taxes. We believe that you should not suffocate the economy with higher taxes. We believe that we should be providing that tax relief to all working Australians—not just some, but those on lower and middle income and all Australians out there working—because we believe all Australians work hard and we believe they all deserve tax relief. And we believe businesses should have competitive tax rates. We do not believe that businesses should be shackled to the second-highest tax rates in the world when they're out there trying to invest and employ people and grow their businesses and get the return back on the big investments they've made in their businesses, putting their own houses and their own livelihoods on the line to ensure that other people can have jobs and enjoy the prosperity that is achievable in this country. That is our plan. That's part of our strong plan, our plan for a stronger economy, because we understand that you cannot guarantee the essential services Australians rely on unless you have a stronger economy.

The Labor Party wants to put more than $200 billion of additional taxes on the Australian economy. That's why Australians cannot afford Labor. They cannot afford a Labor government that would put on more than $200 billion in additional taxes. The way Australians will pay for that is not just in the higher taxes that they'll pay but in the threat to the services that they rely on. If we're looking at Tasmania and infrastructure, the $60 million for the Bass Highway comes from a stronger economy. That's where that comes from. The $1½ billion for boosting the Bruce Highway, up near the member for Petrie and in the Longman electorate, comes from a stronger economy. The $10 million for the chemotherapy treatment unit in Caboolture Hospital comes from a government that understands why a stronger economy is important to guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on.

Our personal tax plan is responsible, it's comprehensive and it deals with real problems in the tax system to ensure that 94 per cent of Australians will not face a marginal tax rate higher than 32½c in the dollar. That's a real plan and that's what we're delivering. Our enterprise tax plan will ensure that the businesses that currently employ more than one in two Australians will be joined by all businesses in having competitive tax rates so they can employ more Australians. It's under this government since we were first elected that a million jobs have been created. It's under this government that we've seen unemployment coming down. It's under this government that we've seen 80,000 young people get a job. Jobs and growth: that's what we've delivered; that's what we'll continue to deliver.