Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd wants to hear more from the corporate world as to what they would do with the proceeds of the Turnbull government's corporate tax cuts.
He told the National Press Club on Monday corporate Australia needs to say whether it would increase wages, invest and grow the scope of their enterprises, create new export industries, or just "stick it in its back pocket".
"I have not heard from them," he said.
However, BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie is urging the Senate to pass the government's 10-year tax plan, saying there is now an "urgency" for Australia to keep up with the rest of the world.
He says the reduction to 25 per cent from 30 per cent for all businesses could deliver the Australian economy dividends "within months" of being passed and these would lead to more jobs and higher wages.
But the cuts appear likely to be blocked in the upper house, with One Nation and Nick Xenophon Team senators already indicating they will join Labor and the Greens in opposing the legislation.
So far only businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million benefit from the reduction.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann estimates 4500 Australian businesses have a turnover above $50 million a year, employing about four million people.
"Legislating the remaining seven years of our enterprise tax plan now would give those bigger businesses the certainty they need to make investment decisions for the future now, in the knowledge that they will benefit from a lower business tax rate down the track," he wrote in an opinion piece.
But shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh says the Turnbull government's own modelling shows Australian household income would grow by only 0.1 per cent in the 2030s if the company tax rate is reduced to 25 per cent for all businesses.
"That it is delivering an extra month of household income growth in the 2030s at a time when debt is just past the half a trillion dollar mark. Doesn't seem like a great use of taxpayers' money to me," Dr Leigh told Sky News.
Government minister Angus Taylor describes Labor's attitude to the tax cuts as "extraordinary".
"The question for Labor is why don't they want to see Australians get a wage increase? That's what happens when you have company tax rate cuts," Mr Taylor told Sky News.
He says significant cuts in the company tax rate occurred during the Hawke, Keating and Howard eras which produced wage increases.
But Dr Leigh argues good tax reform involves broadening the base and lowering the rate.
"This is simply rate-lowering at the expense of middle-income Australians," he said.
