The Prime Minister is pushing ahead with getting the remainder of his government's 10-year business tax cut plan through the Senate this week, after successfully steering personal income tax reductions into law. Parliament will be sitting for the final week before the long winter break.
The Prime Minister and Finance Minister have stepped out over the weekend to stress the value of cuts to the corporate tax rate. Draft laws to cut the corporate tax rate for all companies from 30 per cent to 25 per cent are due to be debated in the Senate on Monday 25th June. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wants the parliament to vote on the tax cut by the end of the week. He says the government is committed to reforming the company tax system.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says he's serious about getting the remainder of the Turnbull government's 10-year business tax cut plan through the Senate this week. Tax cuts were legislated for firms with a turnover of up to $50 million last year. The government fell short of two votes when it tried to get the remainder of the tax plan passed just before Easter. The government needs the support of eight out of 10 crossbenchers to pass the package. Senator Cormann's told the ABC the government has no intention of splitting the company tax cut bill.
Senator Cormann, who's also the leader of the government in the Senate and its chief negotiator, faces a tough time with One Nation's two senators joining Labor and the Greens in opposing the cuts. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson told Fairfax Media that she has no intention of supporting corporate tax cuts.
Senator Hanson says she wants the government to crack down on multinationals trying to avoid their tax obligations while ending tax deductions for firms that use overseas call centres. Labor's finance spokesman Jim Chalmers says a vast majority of these tax cuts would go offshore and be spent on things like executive bonuses and pumping up dividends.
Dr Chalmers has told Sky News that Australia won't get the economic "bang for buck" it needs from $80 billion in tax cuts.
Crossbencher Derryn Hinch says narrowing the deal would make sense. He's told Sky News that he wants company tax cuts for businesses of up to $500 million dollars - excluding the banks.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says he won't be bullied into supporting business tax cuts. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused Mr Shorten of leading an anti-jobs, anti-investment, higher-taxing Labor alternative.
The comments come as the Labor leader played down concern over party unity after Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese called on the party to work more closely with business and ensure it better connects with people who are not union members.
Mr Albanese says Labor doesn't have to agree with business on issues such as company tax rates, but it does have to engage constructively with business large and small. Mr Shorten says he has no problem with Mr Albanese's comments. He says questions over his ability to deal with the business community and speculation over leadership tension are just distractions. Mr Shorten says Labor isn't budging on company tax cuts.
Labor says the coming week of federal parliament will show how the government has a set of wrong priorities.
