Well, you can forget about Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ three-day roundtable discussions leading to any improvement in the economy’s productivity and growth, let alone getting the budget back under control.

Late last week, the Business Council of Australia (BCA) persuaded all of Canberra’s many other business lobby groups to join it in rejecting out of hand the Productivity Commission’s proposal for reform of the company tax system which, the commission argued, would increase businesses’ incentive to invest more in productivity-enhancing plant and equipment, without any net reduction in company tax collections.

The proposal is for the rate of company tax to be cut for all but our biggest 500 companies, while introducing a 5 per cent tax on the net cash flow of all companies.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has requested that the Productivity Commission produce a set of proposals for improving Australia’s prosperity.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The join statement by 24 business lobby groups says that “while some businesses may benefit under the proposal, it risks all Australian consumers and businesses paying more for the things they buy every day – groceries, fuel and other daily essentials”.

Get it? This is the lobbyists’ oldest trick: “We’re not concerned about what the tax change would do to our profits, dear reader, we’re just worried about what it would do you and your pocket. It’s not us we worry about, it’s our customers.”

Suddenly, their professed concern about the lack of productivity improvement and slow growth is out the window, and now it’s the cost of living they’re deeply worried about. They’ve been urging governments to

© The Sydney Morning Herald