Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

We can rule out ever taxing the economy and the people as much as those opposite did when they were in government. We know that when we came to government tax to GDP ratio was 23.7 per cent. We do not come close to that in the projections over the forward estimates. If the good senator believes that somehow he is from a low-taxing government, he ought to look at the history books, because the statistics clearly show the highest taxing government was in fact the government of Mr Howard and Mr Costello. So I invite the senator. He says he is a fiscal conservative. He can make sure that he can guarantee when he next stands up that the coalition will comply with Peter Costello's Charter of Budget Honesty. Where are your tax hikes, Senator? (Time expired)