Senate debates
Tuesday, 23 February 2016
Questions without Notice
Taxation
2:10 pm
Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source
As much as I am tempted to provide a running commentary, I will not. What the government is focused on is reforms to strengthen growth and create more jobs to ensure people across Australia have the best possible opportunity to get ahead. That is why in last year's budget we delivered tax cuts for small business. That is why we got rid of Labor's disastrous mining tax and Labor's disastrous carbon tax, which made us less competitive internationally, cost jobs and reduced the level of investment into very important industries here in Australia. That is why we are looking right across the whole tax system for opportunities to make the tax system more growth friendly into the future.
That, of course, is only one part of our comprehensive plan for stronger growth and more jobs, which also includes an ambitious free trade agenda, an ambitious deregulation agenda, an ambitious innovation agenda, an ambitious infrastructure investment program—all efforts of the government to strengthen growth and create better opportunities for people across Australia to get ahead.
Tibor Majlath
Posted on 27 Feb 2016 8:39 am
This seems a fine record of achievements. No tax is good.
(1) The abolishing of the disastrous mining tax - it was so disasterous it didn't raise much revenue.
(2) The abolishing of the disastrous carbon tax - the tax that cost $7 billion/22 million/year or $318 per head of population per year unlike the LNP's GST which costs around $51.727 billion/22 million/year or $2351 per head of population per year. The LNP's consumption tax is 7.4 times larger than Labor's carbon tax.
The Senator says the two Labor taxes "made us less competitive internationally, cost jobs and reduced the level of investment into very important industries here in Australia". How did the mining tax which raised little revenue hurt mining investment? How many jobs were lost? How was competiveness measured? How was GDP affected? How much did the carbon tax affect the CPI - 0.7%? Did investments in the coal industry fall? By how much? As usual, we don't need to know.
Yet we can live with the GST which currently takes 7.4 times more from households than the carbon tax, and even dream of increasing the rate at some future date. Why is that Senator? Perhaps because the GST is more selective in its target group which then pays for another's tax cut.