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

Since we came into government, we have been engaged in very substantial tax reform. We abolished Labor's job-destroying carbon tax which made Australia less competitive internationally. We abolished Labor's investment- and job-destroying mining tax. We delivered a tax cut to small business, something that Labor continued to promise but never delivered. And of course we also promised that we would engage in a conversation with the Australian people about long-term tax reform priorities. As the Treasurer has indicated in various public statements in recent days, in Australia we have too heavy a reliance on income taxes. We have to have a conversation on how we can raise the necessary revenue to fund the necessary services of government in a better, more efficient, less distorting way, in a way that detracts the least amount possible from economic growth opportunities into the future. That is why the government is engaged actively in a conversation about a better tax system. (Time expired)