2018-03-27
Greens Leader Senator Richard Di Natale today said the Liberal government's failure to secure the votes needed to pass its Trump-like company tax cuts means they're dead in the water. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann confirmed in the Senate earlier this evening that they have only managed to secure 37 votes and that the legislation will not be brought before the Senate until later this year.
"Malcolm Turnbull and his government's Trump-like company tax cuts are dead in the water," Senator Di Natale said.
"This means that instead of handing out tens of billions of dollars to big businesses and the big banks, we'll still have tens of billions of dollars in public hands to invest in our schools and hospitals and renewable energy.
"The vast majority of executives admitted to the Business Council that they would not use the savings from company tax cuts to boost the wages of their employees or hire more staff, rather they would return them to their shareholders or re-invest in their business.
"This blew a hole in the arguments of the Liberals and the big business lobby that the company tax cuts would boost wages and has helped to kill off the cuts to company tax.
"The Greens have stood against Turnbull's Trump-like company tax cuts from the start.
"I call on Labor to join with the Greens and commit to repealing all tax cuts given to businesses with turnovers of over $10 million."