COMPANY TAX CUTS

No wonder Scott Morrison has been silent ever since the Super Saturday by-elections when Coalition MPs and Cabinet ministers have been piling on and attacking the Prime Minister and his $80 billion company tax cut package.

 

Today on Sky News Day, it took Scott Morrison several unconvincing goes before he finally confirmed the Government would take the company tax cut package to the next election.

 

 

 

Normally you’d expect the Treasurer to be in the vanguard defending Government tax policy, but that was instead left yesterday to the Finance Minister Mathias Cormann to argue for the entire tax package.

 

Over the last few days we have seen a growing number of Coalition MPs from former Prime Minister Tony Abbott down, start to criticise the Government’s company tax cut plan. This is a clear show of no faith in Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.

 

How can the Liberal Party expect the Senate to support the full company tax cut package when it no longer does?

 

If Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison drop all or part of the remaining company tax cuts, the biggest question for the Australian people will be, what does the Turnbull Government stand for?

 

This is no minor matter, Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison have been arguing for the entire package since the 2016 Budget, this has been the Liberal Party’s one point economic plan.

 

The Liberal Party has spent two years telling the Australian people we needed to put all of the eggs in the ‘big business tax cut’ basket, so to pull up stumps now on this plan would be the end of any pretence Mr Turnbull has to policy credibility.

 

For Malcolm Turnbull we’ve seen this all before: on climate change, the republic, on the NDIS and Medicare Levy increase, we’re told he has convictions and policy, only to drop it all when it becomes politically difficult.

 

MACDONALD: Let's talk about the Government's other big tax policy. We're talking about corporate tax cuts. If you don't manage to get that over the line in this next sitting week of Parliament, you certain you'll take that to the next election as a policy?

 

TREASURER: Everyone always makes projections about what's going to happen in the Senate, don't they, Hamish? Plenty of people were making projections about what was going to happen in the Senate on personal taxes so we'll just continue to work with the Senate, that's where our focus is and that's what we'll continue to do.

 

MACDONALD: That wasn't the question though, you said you'd take it to the next election as a policy if you don't get it through.

 

TREASURER: We've made it very clear that we will continue to prosecute our case on corporate taxes and that's beyond next Friday and to the next election. We will always stand for competitive taxes for Australian businesses.