After 26 consecutive years of economic growth most Australians either believe they have not benefited or don’t know if they have gained, according to a new poll.
The national poll of almost 3,000 people for the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia is evidence of what it calls an “economic disconnect”, with perceived winners including large corporations and executives.
The results are published in CEDA’s Community Pulse 2018 report, released on Monday, and provide grist for political arguments about addressing wage stagnation through tax cuts.
CEDA is holding a two-day conference on the state of the nation in Canberra at the start of a sitting week in which the government will press on with a bill to cut taxes for companies earning more than $50m a year.
After the Coalition passed its $144bn personal income tax cut package last week, it faces an uphill battle on company tax with One Nation, Centre Alliance and independent senators Derryn Hinch and Tim Storer all opposed to the final plank of its package.
Labor has argued for an income tax cut package with bigger benefits for low- and middle-income earners and promised to block or repeal the company tax cut.
The CEDA poll found just 5% of people “believe they have personally gained a lot” from 26 years of consecutive growth, compared with 40% who said they had “gained a little”, 44% who did not feel like they had gained at all and 11% who did not know.
Some 74% of people thought that large corporations and senior executives had gained a lot. Other identified winners included foreign shareholders, white-collar workers and Australian shareholders.
The CEDA chief executive, Melinda Cilento, attributed the results to “a decade of stagnant incomes and cost-of-living pressures in areas like health and electricity”, adding that: “Waning trust in business and politics are also likely factors.”
Cilento said traction for economic reforms becomes more difficult “if the community feels removed from the benefits or have lost trust that the benefits from growth will be broadly shared”.
“The poll results support this,” she said. “Key issues around supporting business competitiveness, from reducing the company tax rate and red tape to supporting new industry, ranked as least important for poll respondents.”
The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, will tell the CEDA conference on Monday that after passing income tax cuts the Coalition is “equally serious” about passing the last phase of company tax cuts to “back businesses to invest and create more jobs”.
In extracts of his speech seen by Guardian Australia, McCormack argues that income tax cuts “must be shared by all working Australians” by delivering the full seven-year $144bn package.
“Under our plan, 94% of Australian workers will end up with a marginal tax rate of no more than 32.5% in the dollar – that’s compared with 63% if it had been left unchanged.”
A ReachTel poll by the Australia Institute, released on Sunday, found that majorities in byelection seats Longman and Mayo thought that the tax rate for large companies should be increased or stay the same.
The result is support by the CEDA survey which found lower company tax and less business regulation were among the least important national issues, along with a strong private school system, increased humanitarian intake of refugees, and fewer restrictions on using our natural resources.
Respondents said the top priorities for Australia were high-quality public hospitals, limiting foreign ownership, high-quality aged care, increasing the pension and toughening criminal laws and sentences.
Mode of employment was the strongest predictor of whether respondents felt they had gained from growth. Those working full-time permanent jobs mostly said they had gained a lot from economic growth (8%) or a little (50%), with those on contracts and self-employed also recording majorities who had felt growth.
Just one-quarter of casuals with temporary employers felt they had gained, a figure rising to 30% for casuals with fixed employers.
People in rural and regional areas and those over 50 also had majorities that did not feel they had benefited from growth.
Some 31% of people reported they are finding it difficult to live on their current income, and almost one-third would like to work more hours to earn more.
Some 79% of people said they believe the gap between the richest and poorest Australians is unacceptable.
