Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has reassured banks a Labor government will not use the bank tax as a "play thing" and raise it.
Bank bosses have told the ABC they believe a key risk of a Labor government would be that it could raise the tax "arbitrarily", just as the sector's reputation and ability to campaign against any such move would be at its lowest ebb.
"We have no plans to raise nor reduce it," Mr Bowen told The Business program.
However, in an interview addressing Labor's key policies on tax, business and the economy, Mr Bowen did not shy away from his plans to scrap negative gearing.
There were some hopes in the property sector that, given the distinct downturn in real estate, Labor would hesitate to put further downward pressure on property prices.
"Not only is it responsible, it would be irresponsible not to [restrict negative gearing]," Mr Bowen said.
Labor will limit negative gearing to newly built housing it if wins at the next election, although it will 'grandfather' existing investors, who will continue to be allowed negative gearing on properties they already own.
Mr Bowen brushed off fears that the policy change would accelerate falls in housing prices, saying many young people still cannot afford a home and the data shows negative gearing does not boost housing supply.
"People say you need negative gearing to add to supply — 93 per cent of it goes to existing property. How is that adding to supply?" he questioned.
"As a policy objective, there is a 93 per cent failure rate."
Mr Bowen is not backing down from scrapping dividend imputation either, despite the Morrison Government likely to run a campaign arguing that it will hurt mum and dad investors and self-funded retirees.
"Is it worth the fight? Absolutely," he told The Business.
"We are the only country in the world with dividend imputation. The only country which sends a tax refund to people who have not paid income tax.
"It is not sustainable. It costs $6 billion, growing to $8 billion, a year."
Labor would consider corporate tax cuts
In a bold statement, Mr Bowen said Labor would consider corporate tax cuts in future, but only when the budget could afford the loss in revenue.
"When you get back to a good solid surplus of at least 1 per cent of GDP then you can assess other priorities, be it tax relief for individuals or corporations," he said.
Energy policy, however, remains uncertain.
There is no point in Labor coming up with a plan that will not get bipartisan support, Mr Bowen said, but what that leaves as a policy option is unclear.
Whether Labor would take the obvious, but politically difficult, option of adopting the Finkel Review's 50th recommendation of a clean energy target seems unlikely.
"We are considering these things and consulting on them," Mr Bowen responded.
