Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. As well as substantial tax cuts for individuals and families, will the Treasurer please remind the House how the Morrison government's economic recovery plan builds on our proven track record of delivering tax cuts for Australian businesses, 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 Ryan for his question and acknowledge his experience as a Brisbane city councillor—indeed, as the Treasurer of the Brisbane City Council. In his electorate, 60,000 taxpayers are getting a tax cut as a result of policies that we on this side of the House have supported.

In every electorate represented across this chamber, small businesses are the lifeblood of local communities. They are also the engine room of local economies, with 3.6 million small businesses across Australia employing eight million Australians. That's more than half the workforce being supported by small businesses. We have supported small businesses throughout this crisis, whether through JobKeeper, the cash flow boost or the most recent business support payments in those states that went into lockdown. Today, we released new Treasury analysis and ATO data that showed, as a result of the tax cuts that we on this side of the House have supported, small businesses are getting $5 billion of tax relief this year and next. So, if you're a small business with a $500,000 turnover, you're going to be around $50,000 better off. What is also important to acknowledge in this new data is that small and medium-sized businesses created 600,000 jobs between April last year and September this year. That's 1,300 jobs a day being created by small business.

You would think with that track record of creating jobs and supporting economic activity that those opposite would support small business. But we know that the only thing that they've got for small business is a sledgehammer—higher taxes for small businesses. We know that the member for Rankin recently took to his shadow cabinet a plan to put a new tax on family small businesses. What would that do? It would put a tax on 300,000 small businesses. So a mum-and-dad cafe that earns $150,000 a year will pay an extra $14,000 of tax as a result of Labor's higher taxes on small business. So, while we're supporting small businesses with JobKeeper, the cashflow boost and other COVID support payments, those opposite want to put a higher tax on small businesses.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. How can the Treasurer make the sorts of claims he just did in that answer when the two highest-taxing governments of the last 30 years have both been Liberal governments, including his?

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

I thank the member for Rankin and welcome him back to the parliament—the part-time shadow of a shadow Treasurer. That was a dorothy dixer, because at the last election we were proposing lower taxes for Australians and Labor were proposing $387 billion of higher taxes. Do you know who said they were 'proud and pleased' of the housing tax and the retirees' tax? It was the member for Rankin, the co-architect with the member for McMahon. And do you know what the member for McMahon told the Australian people about Labor's high-taxing agenda? He said, 'If you don't like it, don't vote for it.'

The member for Rankin has the hide to come to the dispatch box knowing that he took to the Australian people a superannuation tax, he took to the Australian people a higher tax on housing, he took to the Australian people a retirees' tax, he took to the Australian people higher taxes on their income and he took to the Australian people higher taxes on small business. A leopard doesn't change their spots. The Australian people know what the member for Rankin is all about—higher taxes on all Australians.

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

My question is also to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer remind the House of the Morrison government's strong record of cutting taxes for Australian families and workers so that they can keep more of what they earn? 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 Robertson for her question and acknowledge that she's a strong advocate for lower taxes for the people across her electorate, with more than 50,000 taxpayers in her electorate getting a tax cut as a result of policies supported and implemented by the Morrison government.

When we got elected, we said to the Australian people that we would grow the economy, we said to the Australian people that we would cut their taxes and we said to the Australian people that we would create more jobs. After the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression, the Australian economy today is $300 billion bigger than when we came to government. We have legislated, through the parliament, $300 billion of tax cuts for households. We've introduced the biggest business investment incentives Australia has ever seen and we've reduced small business company tax rates down to the lowest level in 50 years. That's our record. And, when it comes to jobs, there are 1.4 million additional Australians in work today than when we came to government. That is our record. Our economic plan helped put Australia in a strong position going into this crisis, our economic plan helped get Australia through this crisis and our economic plan will help ensure our economy is stronger on the other side of this crisis.

I'm asked, 'Are there any alternative approaches?' Well, we know what the Labor Party's plan is because they showed us at the last election. On the weekend, the member for Rankin went on the program Insiders and David Speers asked the member for Rankin a very simple question: 'Would you increase taxes for ordinary Australians at all?' It was a simple yes/no question. What did the member for Rankin say? 'It makes sense to maintain some flexibility'—some flexibility to increase taxes on income earners, some flexibility to increase taxes on superannuation, some flexibility to increase taxes on retirees, some flexibility to increase taxes on housing and, of course, some flexibility to increase taxes on family businesses. A leopard doesn't change its spots. The member for Rankin and the Leader of the Opposition are only interested in one thing: more spending. (Time expired)