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

I did actually explain before that, over the medium term to 2027-28, the revenue impact of removing the four big banks is increased revenue of $7.9 billion. Over the forward estimates, there is no impact, and the reason for that is that, under the Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan, the banks of that size don't actually become eligible for the lower corporate tax rate in that period. You've also got to remember that, while the banks are carved out from the enterprise tax plan altogether, they are still subject to the major bank levy, which is raising more than $2 billion a year from those banks.

In relation to why we have chosen the $500 billion threshold, that is based on advice that that was the appropriate threshold to put in. You've got to remember that the banks below that threshold are involved in putting competitive pressure on the major banks in a domestic context, and a number of them are also involved internationally. The four major banks are the ones that, essentially, have their activities concentrated domestically in Australia and, as such, arguably are less exposed to global competition.