Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer remind the House of the Morrison government's success in delivering significant tax reform and how this is providing real tax cuts for Australian businesses, workers and their families, and is the Treasurer aware of any alternative policies?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question and acknowledge her experience as a law professor, as a law dean and as a vice-chancellor of Notre Dame university. She's been a strong advocate for lower taxes, including for the 25,000 businesses across her electorate that are eligible for the immediate expensing provisions, and more than 50,000 taxpayers across her electorate are getting a tax cut as a result of policies that we on this side of the House have supported.

We have put in place, we have legislated, significant structural tax reform, including the abolition of a whole tax bracket, the 37 cents in the dollar tax bracket, to see people who earn between $45,000 and $200,000 pay a marginal rate of tax of no more than 30 cents in the dollar. Indeed, if you are a teacher earning $60,000 a year, you are paying $6,480 less tax this year as a result of our plan. And, if you are a truckie on $90,000 a year, you are paying $7,020 less tax over the course of the period that we have introduced these tax reforms.

We've put in place immediate expensing for businesses. We've also put in place the loss carry-back measures. We've also put in place a patent box for businesses in the medical and biotech sector, who can get a concessional company tax rate of 17 cents in the dollar.

But I'm asked: are there 'any alternative approaches'. And we know that the member for Rankin and the member for McMahon hoodwinked the member for Maribyrnong at the election and came out with $387 billion of higher taxes. And then, as Australia was winning gold in the pool, they quietly dumped negative gearing and some of their other higher taxes. But no-one believes them. And no-one was prouder of those tax increases than the member for Rankin. Of course, they also opposed our legislated stage 3 tax cuts. The member for Rankin called them offensive. He said they were the least fair, the least equitable and the least effective. He went on Sky TV and was asked by Kieran Gilbert: 'So you didn't get rolled on this particular issue?' The member for Rankin: 'Of course not, Kieran.' This is better, in terms of Labor supporting our tax cuts. The member for Rankin said, 'This was my recommendation to the shadow cabinet, to the expenditure review committee. In all the forums I've participated in recent times I've made it clear that it is my preference. This is in my portfolio, and this is the recommendation I made to colleagues.' No-one believes you. (Time expired)