Mathias Cormann will bring the government’s entire tax package to the Senate at the end of next month, in a sink or swim move that could pave the way for an early election.
The finance minister said he would take the government’s income tax plan, unchanged, to the Senate when it resumes next month, along with the corporate tax cuts, for a vote before the parliament rises for the winter break on 28 June.
A defeat then would give the government the trigger it needs to either dump the corporate tax plan or test it at an election, raising suspicions Malcolm Turnbull plans on taking the nation back to the polls before the end of the year.
Cormann said the government was “totally committed to the reforms”.
“This was a very important reform for Australia as we went to the last election in 2016, it is even more important and more urgent now,” he said.
“Since we went to the last election, the United States has legislated to lower their business tax rate to 21%. Since we went to the last election, even France has decided to lower their business tax rate from 33% to 25%.
“Countries around the world, who are focused on the best interests of working families and their respective economies are making sure that their businesses are not put at a competitive disadvantage.
“In Australia, we must do the same.”
Cormann was forced to pull the legislation from the Senate in March, after crossbencher Tim Storer announced he could not support the bill, robbing the government of the numbers it needed.
Hanson had originally ruled out supporting the government’s plan to progressively cut the company tax rate from 30% to 25%, but in March she committed One Nation to backing it, in exchange for an apprenticeships program.
Last week the government’s plan was delivered a further blow when Hanson reneged on the deal she had made with the government and pulled her party’s three votes, saying the budget, and concerns over debt-paydown, had changed her mind.
Then on Monday, following an apparent shift in the polls, Hanson admitted she was willing to re-examine her position again and support the cuts.
Speaking to the Seven Network, as part of a regular sparring segment with fellow crossbencher Derryn Hinch, she said she would once again look at supporting the bill.
“I will listen to what the people are saying,” she said.
“You said they are saying 63% want corporate tax cuts. They can ring my office.”
Hinch said Hanson’s office had continued to lobby him to support the tax cuts in the days after the budget, saying her chief-of-staff had sent him text messages “saying, that you have had a liver transplant, Derryn Hinch, and the economy also needs one”.
Hanson responded: “Derryn, I am the senator, not James Ashby. The decision comes from me. That’s where it stands.”
Hinch has continued to push for a $500m turnover cap, in exchange for his support, a move Cormann has rejected as placing “an artificial barrier on the growth and expansion of businesses that are just below that threshold”.
Hanson’s changing position on the corporate tax cut plan has been seen by her critics as an attempt to appeal to voters in Queensland, and more immediately, at the Longman byelection, where One Nation preferences could decide the outcome.
After announcing she had pulled her support for the tax cut plan last week, Hanson made a surprise appearance at the banking royal commission, where she called for rogue bankers to be jailed.
