Senate Hearings into Labor’s Warped Franking Credits Changes

The Senate Economics Committee has concluded hearings into Labor’s warped franking credits changes.

It was revealed that the Treasury's costing of a $10 million budget improvement was based on data from 2016. It is ridiculous that ancient data has been used to justify such a drastic change.

Treasury conceded to the Senate that Labor’s changes are an attempt to fix an issue which does not exist. The Treasury was clear that there is no problem to solve in today’s capital markets.

Accordingly, there is no case to change franking credits.

Certainly Treasury’s denial of data to the Parliamentary Budget Office was not sufficiently explained to the Senate. This appalling precedent will not be accepted by the Opposition.

During the hearings, industry participants estimated Labor’s measures could lead to a $1 billion to $2 billion loss in tax revenue per annum.

Labor wants to kill the system of dividend imputation in Australia but it wants to do it in the dark.

It was made clear to the Senate that the ‘established practice’ test will benefit large corporations at the expense of small and medium companies.

Canberra should get out of corporate capital management.

Ultimately, Australia will suffer from lower levels of investment into private companies and a less dynamic economy and society.

I thank everyone who participated in the Senate’s hearings. We will consider the evidence as we formulate the Committee’s report and recommendations which will be already obvious to most observers.