Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

It is very simple. It is on the same basis as the claim made by the previous government. The previous Gillard Labor government made a judgement that businesses generating more than $20 billion a year in profits were not an appropriate beneficiary of a research and development tax subsidy over and above the normal deduction of actual expenses incurred. So what you are suggesting now, contrary to what the previous Gillard Labor government suggested, is that businesses generating more than $20 billion in profit every year should have the advantage, the benefit, of an additional tax subsidy on top of the normal and ordinary deductions of genuine and legitimate business expenses that occur in the ordinary course of events.

Given the general discussion that we are having in Australia at present, prosecuted in part by the Labor opposition, that we need to ensure that companies generating profits in Australia pay their fair share of tax in Australia, I am somewhat bemused as to why it is that in relation to this particular aspect of our tax system that Labor thinks that businesses generating more than $20 billion in profits a year—these are the big companies, the BHPs, the Rios, the banks; we are talking about 20 of the biggest businesses in Australia—should have an additional tax subsid These are the businesses where the Labor Party are saying, 'We want to keep that special inflated tax subsidy for research and development in place.' But previously, when Julia Gillard was the Prime Minister and Wayne Swan was the Treasurer, you identified this as an appropriate area to make some savings and help contribute to the important task of budget repair. I think you are just play politics with this. That is essentially all this is.