STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator BLYTH (South Australia) (13:39): There are two guarantees in life, death and taxes, and the Treasurer has taken this to a whole other level. There are now birth taxes and death taxes, and every time the Treasurer tries to fix his broken, overspending, overtaxing budget, another tax landmine explodes. Two weeks ago, Labor released their exposure draft legislation, seeking to implement a minimum tax on discretionary trusts.

It contained a birth tax. Not content with having to back down on a death tax and a divorce tax, the Treasurer now wants to create a new law that means adding a newborn child to a family trust after July 2028 could potentially tax that trust's entire income at 47 per cent. Australian Industry Group chief executive Mr Willox said that this 'perverse oversight' needed to be addressed.

CPA Australia said: Under this drafting, the family is frozen as it stood on 1 July 2028. A grandchild born in 2030 can never be brought into the arrangement while the parents and grandparents are alive. Families should never be forced to choose between including their newborn child in the family business and being hit with a massive tax bill.

Under Labor's drafting, this is exactly the choice some families could face. This has become a tax policy by whack-a-mole. Every time the Treasurer tries to patch one problem in his $45 billion trust tax, another problem pops up for Australian families and small businesses.

At a time when Australians are already being smashed by the cost of living, the last thing a family business needs is another complicated Labor tax hanging over their head. This tax will punish people who want to grow their family, and it should be axed.