Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

He is very sensitive, the member for Watson, when it comes to weighty tomes of the member for McMahon. But what he said was:

We do not need to have the lowest corporate tax rate in the world …

We do, however, need to be concerned if our company tax rate is on the higher side of the world's advanced economies. … While 30 per cent sounds low compared to the rate that Paul Keating inherited, it is how the rate compares to that of our competitors that counts.

The member opposite likes to write about company tax cuts in his books. He likes to talk about them outside of this place. But he has no plan to do it. Our company tax cuts have delivered a cost to revenue of $5.3 billion over the budget and forward estimates. We know what they cost, and we have been able to ensure that we can meet and offset that cost by the other revenue-raising measures in the budget, which include our commitment to cracking down on multinational tax avoidance and removing access to generous concessions for those on high incomes and with high wealth. In that area we have raised $6 billion in additional revenue from just the top four per cent of those with superannuation accounts, and we have reinvested $3 billion of that back into ensuring that we can pay for the company tax cuts and income tax cuts that are in this budget and, in addition to that, reinvested in making superannuation fairer, more accessible and more flexible for the Australians who need it.

Those opposite talk a big game when it comes to tax. They talk a big game when it comes to any number of issues—multinational tax avoidance and all the rest of it. But we know that in government they do nothing about it and in opposition they vote against it. And as we come to an election, the only thing you can notice is that they will engage in their class-envy politics. The Australian people are over it. They are over this opposition. There is nothing new about this Leader of the Opposition. He is the same old Labor politician we have known for a long time.

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