A new national poll has asked 1,557 Australians what they think large companies are likely to do with a company tax cut. 

A majority (61%) of respondents think that increasing worker’s pay would be the very bottom of the list of priorities for large companies receiving a tax cut.

63% think increasing executive pay, and 56% thought dividends and share buybacks would be the top two priorities.

 “It’s understandable that the public remains skeptical about big business and the company tax cuts,” Executive Director of The Australia Institute, Ben Oquist said.

“The learned experience from overseas, most recently the Trump corporate tax cuts, where corporate America spent 37 times as much on stock buybacks than they did on bonuses and increased wages for workers.

“Big business in Australia has been seeing record profits, and while executive pay continues to rise, wage growth across the economy is at record lows.

“The economic case for the company tax cuts for likes of the big banks, miners and insurers has collapsed and the Australian public clearly does not want a bar of it,” Oquist said.