The Senate last night supported a Coalition amendment and voted against Labor’s attempt to rush through its badly designed tax hike on business.

The Bill will now be referred for further review, after Labor ignored ongoing business concerns.

The Senate Economics Legislation Committee heard evidence that the Bill - far from being limited to multinationals and tax avoidance - will increase taxes on Australian companies, harm investment in Australian industries, and negatively affect housing affordability.

The Senate inquiry heard that this Bill introduces major tax changes that have not been subject to appropriate public consultation.

In a rush to legislate the Bill, Labor quietly rewrote almost a third of the Bill through a sheet of amendments quietly circulated last week without consulting the many affected businesses and industries.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said that while the Coalition supports the principle of the Bill, Labor had bungled its design.

“This is just another example of a government so incompetent, that the Coalition has to do their job for them.

“Labor’s multinational tax Bill is so badly designed the Senate has heard it taxes Australian small businesses and employers – the backbone of our community.

“By raising taxes on Australian businesses doing the right thing, this will just be passed on to consumers and raise prices even further.

“The Coalition has a strong record on addressing multinational tax avoidance. But this Bill has been bungled from go to woe by a Treasurer who spent more time writing op-eds supporting the Voice, than focusing on managing the economy.

“The Treasurer’s mishandling of this Bill demonstrates yet again that Labor does not understand business.”

This is just the latest debacle from a Labor government that can’t be trusted on tax. Labor have:

• Broken their promise not to raise taxes on franking credits
• Broken their promise not to raise taxes on superannuation
• Raised taxes on low and middle income families by ending the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset
• Ended small business tax concessions that drive investment and productivity

The former Coalition Government implemented more than a dozen measures to combat multinational tax avoidance, including playing a leading role in the original OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project, and committing to the OECD two-pillar solution to multinational tax.

ENDS.