Federal treasurer Scott Morrison says the Coalition's success in passing its sweeping reforms to personal income tax this week should show "sceptics" the government can still negotiate the passage of its cuts to corporate tax.
The government will try to push the corporate tax cuts through the Senate next week, but it remains unclear if the government's chief negotiator Mathias Cormann has locked in enough support from the crossbench.
The Turnbull government’s full set of income tax cuts passed the Senate on Thursday with the support of One Nation and the Centre Alliance.
The landmark tax reform was the centrepiece of the government's 2018 Budget and will form a key part of its pitch to voters in the lead-up to the next federal election.
But the Coalition's cuts to corporate tax rates, which would gradually reduce the tax all businesses pay in Australia from 30 percent to 25 percent, were a key promise in the 2016 election. They have been stalled in the Senate since then.
"Commentators were very sceptical about us passing the personal tax cuts, so let's just see what happens shall we," Mr Morrison told SBS News on Friday morning.
"We'll just continue to be persistent and work with the Senate to ensure the passage of these important measures, because reducing and making company tax more competitive is good for jobs, it's good for incomes, it's good for the economy."
Finance minister Mathias Cormann said he was working to "persuade" the eight crossbenchers the government needs for the bill to pass, with Labor and the Greens opposed.
"Bill Shorten in standing in the way of a lower, globally more-competitive business tax rate here in Australia," Senator Cormann told SBS News.
"[He is] helping businesses overseas, including big business overseas, take investment and jobs away from Australia and he should stand condemned for it."
Labor says the corporate tax cuts are unaffordable, and accuses the government of helping the "big end of town" with no guarantee the extra profits would be passed on to workers through wage increases.
The first round of income tax cuts will take effect on July 1, but taxpayers will not see the money until they lodge their tax returns at the end of the next financial year.
Those earning up to $125,000 per year will receive a tax offset of up to $530 when they file their return.
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