Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on why it is so important for a strong economy that business can have certainty around taxation and is supported by lower and simpler taxes? Is the Treasurer aware of impacts of alternative proposals?

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

I thank the member for Leichhardt for his question. He understands that our legislated tax relief for small and medium-sized businesses is part of our plan for a stronger economy, which is working, which has seen over a million more Australians employed since we were first elected, 80,000 young people get a job over the last 12 months, the unemployment rate coming down and non-mining investment growing at five times the long-run average.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How much is your tax cut?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lyons is warned.

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

In the last couple of years we have seen businesses with turnover of less than $25 million already receive the tax cuts and the tax relief, but just next week, in a couple of days time, businesses with turnover between $25 million and $50 million will also get tax relief from 1 July. That happens in just a few days time. That includes CaPTA, a wonderful business up in Far North Queensland, a medium-sized tourism operator run by the Woodward family. That business has been running for 40 years, employs some 300 people and runs the rainforest nature park, tours and charters. It is a great business. They are getting tax relief next week. The Leader of the Opposition would be familiar with a whole bunch of other businesses, like Milltech Martin Bright out in Laverton North, which he has visited. They have a turnover of just under $50 million. They're getting a tax cut next week. Victoria Wool Processors at Laverton North are getting a tax cut next week. Jako Industries in Jandakot, Perth, are getting a tax cut. Fairmont Homes out in south-western Sydney are getting a tax cut.

But in one year's time, if the Labor Party is elected, all of their tax relief will be stripped away. Those businesses with turnover between $10 million and $50 million will pay a million dollars extra tax on average over the next 10 years if this Leader of the Labor Party becomes Prime Minister between now and then. He is leaving 100,000 businesses in the lurch because he refuses to tell them, as does the shadow Treasurer, whether businesses with turnover between $2 million and $10 million will have their tax cuts ripped away from them in the same way, with a captain's call from the leader of the Labor Party, who announced this week that he'll be ripping them away from businesses with turnover between $10 million and $50 million. Some two million people work in businesses with between $2 million and $10 million in turnover. The Leader of the Labor Party has by-elections coming up all round the country, and he owes it to small businesses in those electorates, as to all small businesses around this country, to tell them the truth. He has done it once this week. I'm not excited about the fact, or encouraged that he will make a habit of telling the truth, but he should tell them the truth: will he strip away tax cuts for businesses with turnover between $2 million and $10 million? It's a pretty simple question. (Time expired)