House debates

Thursday, 11 May 2017

Questions without Notice

Budget

2:46 pm

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

So the Leader of the Opposition needs to confirm if he will commit to the 23.9 per cent tax-to-GDP cap. Will he confirm that he will reverse $29.8 billion in small- and medium-sized business tax cuts? Will he reverse those and will he increase taxes on small businesses tonight and, as a result, cost jobs in small business around the country? And will he go back and, in particular, will the shadow Treasurer go back on his word when he said in relation to cutting the personal income tax rates that were put up with the deficit levy in 2014-15:

We don't like it and we don't support it.

He said:

Paul Keating … started the process of reducing those marginal tax rates to make us more competitive as a nation in a globalised world. That's the direction we should be heading in.

So the question for the Leader of the Opposition tonight is: is he going to go in the opposite direction to that which Paul Keating said the country should go in?

He has already said that they want to go in a different direction on company tax than the one which Paul Keating said they should go in. Tonight, is he going to commit to lower taxes or do what the Labor Party always does and jack up taxes? There are only two groups that seem to be unhappy when it comes to the government's budget: the Labor Party and the big banks.

Comments

Tibor Majlath
Posted on 18 May 2017 7:38 am

The bank levy is simply a means of surreptitiously increasing taxes. The banks have already indicated they will pass the levy on.

Together with increases in the Medicare levy just who is jacking up taxes now?