Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

No-one can say that One Nation is responsible for the passage or the fall of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Plan) Bill 2018. Everyone in this chamber carries that responsibility. I would like to see families, those hardworking Australians, and resident companies pay less tax, but the question is: can we afford it? The government says we can afford $140 billion of personal tax cuts and $60 billion of company tax cuts over a 10-year period, which means the cost to the revenue base is $20 billion a year, or seven per cent of the income tax base. The government has no plans to reduce wasteful spending, so how will the $20 billion shortfall in taxation income be made up?

In the last financial year, high commodity prices, particularly for iron ore and coal, led to the surprise increase of 22½ per cent in company income tax receipts. The government says these additional taxes are sustainable income in the long term, even though commodity prices go through a boom-and-bust cycle. The government has made a large number of assumptions about future income that in my view are not realistic, and a never-ending commodity boom is but one of them.

I come back to whether the tax cuts proposed by the government, both personal and corporate, are affordable. If they prove not to be affordable then we will see a dramatic decline in frontline services or an increased national debt. It is no accident that in an election year the government wants to rain money down on citizens in the form of tax cuts. There are five by-elections coming up in July and there will be a general election in the next 12 months. In stage 1 of the proposed personal tax cuts, the government promises $10 a week in the form of a tax offset. Labor say $10 a week is an insult. They will up the bid for your vote to nearly $20 a week, but these tax offsets end in four years. A by-election in the electorate of Longman, in Queensland, will take place in July. The citizens of Longman paid $784 million in income tax to the federal government in 2015-16. These taxpayers paid more in income tax than 80 per cent of multinational companies and their Australian subsidiaries, but still the government says we do not have a revenue hole created by multinationals not paying a fair share of tax.

In the past 20 years we have had both Labor and Liberal national governments, and neither party has had the wit or the will to do anything to fill the revenue hole created by foreign-owned companies and their wholly owned subsidiaries. How can the government say there is not a revenue problem when 39 fossil fuel companies operating in Australia pay no tax, and they include our biggest electricity providers, Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia? The two major parties want to tell you they are different, but when it comes to getting multinational companies to pay tax in Australia they are one. We estimate the revenue hole left by non-resident foreign companies operating in Australia to be big enough to pay for the government's proposed tax cuts for individuals and companies.

When we talk about getting multinationals to pay tax in Australia, Labor is like the scarecrow with no brains and the Liberals are like the tin man with no heart, walking down the yellow brick road in search of everything they lack, which is why so many voters give their vote to a minor party. Around 25 per cent of votes are given to minor parties, which reflects the disconnect between the major parties and what concerns Australians. The majority of Australians do not want population growth driven by high levels of immigration and they do not want to pay more tax than they should. The big four banks in Australia pay 25 per cent more income tax than all the multinational companies and their subsidiaries operating in Australia. The biggest corporate taxpayers in Australia are banks and resource companies. The Commonwealth Bank paid $3.3 billion, followed by Westpac, with $3 billion, and NAB, $2.4 billion. ANZ paid $2 billion. The highest amount of tax paid by a multinational was $386 million. How on earth can the government say there is no problem with the conduct of multinationals and their subsidiaries in Australia?

If citizens want a more equitable and fairer society, then multinationals have to pay their fair share of tax, and citizens need to communicate that at the ballot box when they cast their vote. A vote for the One Nation candidate in Longman is a vote for a change in dealing with multinationals, who expect to pay nothing for all the things that allow them to operate profitably in Australia. Voters in every by-election need to tell politicians that being asleep at the wheel on multinational tax is not good enough, and the best way is to give your vote and your preferences to candidates who say they have a viable plan. The average Longman taxpayer paid $12,000 in income tax in 2015-16, while 26 per cent of multinational subsidiaries operating in Australia paid nothing. The list, of 145, includes Chevron Australia Holdings; ExxonMobil Australia; Puma Energy, who operate petrol stations across Queensland; American Express; and Vodafone Hutchison Australia. There is not time to read out the full list, because it is a long list.

The length of the list of multinationals not paying tax in Australia should be a matter of shame to the government and the previous Labor government. I have been talking about non-resident companies failing to pay their tax for over 20 years. I am sick of hearing that the ATO has all the laws and staff it needs, because self-evidently that cannot be the case when fossil fuel companies pay more in political donations than they do in tax.

I have been talking to the government about budget repair since I became a senator. I have told the government at every opportunity that they need to get multinationals and their wholly owned subsidiaries to contribute to the income tax base. I have strongly advocated for reform of the gas taxation system, but the government is not interested. All I can do is make Australians aware of the facts and let them decide whether it is an issue that will help decide which candidate receives their vote. One Nation's policy on multinational tax reform and reform of the gas taxation system is well documented.

It is pleasing to hear now that Senator Di Natale, in his comments today about taxes and multinationals not paying their taxes, has clearly been listening to my comments in the chamber for the last two years and has now picked it up and is running with it, the same as he did with the Australians building the rail line in Queensland to do with the Adani mine. So it's good to hear that he's actually been listening to me and taking up this case.

I supported company tax cuts for businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million, but I will not support further tax cuts for businesses until the government acts to repair the budget through a new tax base from multinational companies. I find myself in a dilemma over whether or not to support the government's Personal Income Tax Plan, which costs more than the extension of the company tax cut plan. I do not understand why the government is so reluctant to fund tax cuts with a new tax base created by getting multinationals and their wholly owned subsidiaries to pay their fair share of tax. I do not understand why the government's plan for personal income tax cuts is so complex.

In stage 1, the tax offset of $520 ends in four years and becomes a tax offset for those on very low incomes. In stage 2, effective in four years time, the threshold amounts in different brackets change. In stage 3, effective in six years time, one tax bracket disappears and the tax rates change. Once the second reading speeches are finished, the Senate will go into committee to debate amendments to this complex legislation. The government does not want to split the three stages of personal tax cuts even though there is broad support for stage 1, starting on 1 July 2018. Tomorrow, senators will be asked to undertake a difficult process not dissimilar to comparing mobile telephone plans.

The government's failure to split the bill into three stages creates a dilemma for me because stage 3 starts in six years time and no-one can predict whether we will be able to afford tax cuts legislated now. My dilemma is that I know Australians are doing it tough. Wage growth is very low. Certain cost-of-living items are rising much faster than wages. People are struggling to pay electricity bills. They manage by going without adequate heating or cooling when needed. Electricity bills are the No. 1 cost-of-living concern for Australians, and that is a tragedy in a country rich in gas and coal.

Labor has come to see me this week to seek support for their position, which is to support stage 1 of the personal tax cuts while increasing the tax offset. Labor tells me that stage 2 of the personal tax cuts should not be supported, because a threshold move will give those on $90,000 to $120,000 a windfall of $1,350 and later, in stage 3, those on $200,000 tax relief of up to $7,000. Do I need to remind Labor that tens of thousands of electricians, plumbers, nurses, secondary school teachers, lift mechanics and welders earn more than $90,000 and will miss out on a permanent tax cut if Labor opposes stage 2 of the proposed Personal Income Tax Plan? These are your voters. These are people who are possibly just on a basic wage. Then they get offered overtime to earn those few extra dollars, yet you are denying those people you are supposed to support: the battlers. And they are the battlers; it's not a fortune that they're making.

Let me also remind this house that the average backbench politician on $200,000 will receive an extra $4,000, but many will get much more because their salaries are much higher than $200,000. How can Labor and the Greens deny these tax cuts to hundreds of thousands of hardworking Australians on taxable incomes from $120,000 up to $200,000 when they have accepted pay rises in excess of six per cent in recent times? Individuals who work in isolated and dangerous workplaces and are highly skilled have taxable incomes much greater than $100,000, and they include 31,998 coalminers. Mining technicians earn an average taxable income of $118,409; 2,706 plant operators earn an average taxable income of $136,985; and 234 pressure welders earn an average taxable income of $107,210.

I challenge Labor, who argue against tax cuts of $1,350 for those on $90,000 to $120,000 in four years time, to reject their minimum wage increase of $4,000 a year from July 2018. Bill Shorten will pocket an increase of over $7,000 from 1 July 2018 but says those who work long hours do not deserve a tax cut of a similar amount. I challenge Labor to set an example and reject the two per cent pay rise awarded by the Remuneration Tribunal last week. Knock back your pay rise, Labor. You don't want to give anyone—