Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

The tax to GDP ratio, tax as a share of the economy, the sensible way to consider levels of taxation, peaked at 24—

Opposition senators interjecting—

They don't like the truth; it hurts—peaked under which government? The Howard government—24.2 per cent—and was in fact still high at 23.7 per cent in 2007-08 when they left office. In fact, if the government was receiving the same level of taxation in terms of tax to GDP ratio that we inherited from those opposite, revenue in this financial year would be $24 billion higher than is projected in the budget figures. The reality is: we on this side have committed to keeping the tax to GDP ratio at or below the level we inherited and that is what we have been doing. The 2012-13 figure for tax to GDP in the budget papers is 22.1 per cent.

The only party at the moment that is actually advocating for a tax increase is of course the one opposite—1.5 per cent increase to the company tax rate to pay for Mr Abbott's millionaire's paid parental leave scheme; an increase in company tax brought to you by the Liberal Party. Of course what it also wants to do is take back the tax cuts for working Australians this government has put in place.