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

I thank Senator Xenophon for his contribution. The government will not support either of these amendments. The reduction in the rates of the refundable and non-refundable tax offsets for eligible R&D spending will help improve the sustainability of the program. The R&D tax incentive will continue to provide generous, easy to access support for thousands of eligible companies in all sectors of the Australian economy. Companies with a turnover of less than $20 million will still get a 43.5 per cent refundable tax offset for the first $100 million of eligible R&D expenditure. All other companies will still get a 38.5 per cent non-refundable tax offset for the first $100 million of eligible R&D expenditure.

The government's National Innovation and Science Agenda is investing $1.1 billion to incentivise innovation and entrepreneurship, reward risk-taking and promote science, maths and computing in schools. Innovative businesses will benefit from a range of other measures, including allowing more businesses to access prior year losses. Changes have been made for operations such as entering into new business activities, and start-ups' intellectual property and other intangible assets will be more attractive investment options through more generous tax deductions through depreciation and connecting more small and medium businesses with researchers by investing $18 million in a new innovation connections initiative.