Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Brown. The government is committed, as I have said on a number of occasions and as other ministers have said, to ensuring the benefits of the nation's mineral wealth do flow to the broader Australian economy and to Australian people and business. It has been sometimes forgotten in the debate about the mining tax that every cent of the revenue raised will be spread across the Australian community, to business and to individual Australians, through a range of tax cuts.

As small business minister I am particularly proud of the initiatives that are being funded from the mining tax in respect of small business tax relief. There will be a significant cashflow boost and a strong boost to investment in productive assets. From 1 July next year small business will be able to claim an instant write-off of the first $6,500 of each and every asset that they purchase. That is up from $1,000 at the present time—$1,000 in asset write-offs to $6,500 per asset. This measure alone will be worth more than $1 billion to small business. It will be funded from mining tax revenue.

Further, around 6½ million Australians will no longer have to lodge a tax return. This is a massive simplification of our tax system. We will be introducing a standard tax deduction of $500 in the first year, rising to $1,000 in the following years. Again, this is funded from mining tax revenue. The two measures that I have mentioned so far—small business tax relief and a much simpler tax claims system—will be of immeasurable benefit to the small business community and the broader taxpaying population. (Time expired)