These days he is more careful to toe the government's line. But whenever he is asked he points out that what really matters to foreign investors are things like the rule of law, access to energy and the quality of transport, banking and communications services.

To drive it home he added: "Whether the tax rate is 30 per cent or 35 per cent frankly is not as important as other issues ."

"Generally the internal rates of return that are required, the hurdle rates – are so high it would be false to say the taxation rates, unless they were ridiculous, really large, make a big difference."

Our legal system is excellent. It's an unassailable plus for someone thinking of setting up here. Our transport and internet services are getting worse relative to those overseas, and on energy we are now doing so badly that many companies wouldn't move here no matter what the tax rate is. Without guaranteed access to the gas and electricity they need, there's no deal.

None of this is to say that tax doesn't matter. Fraser wouldn't say that, but he would say that his real-world experience is that it matters after a lot of other things.

Eventually it will matter more. Tax competition is driving down the rates charged elsewhere. One day it might drive them down to zero. But even if it does, there will still be companies that would rather invest here than where they pay no tax. Companies from the United Arab Emirates invest here way out of proportion to our international importance in the world, even though at home their tax rate is zero. The Australia Institute reckons 97 per cent of the applications to the Foreign Investment Review Board come from countries with lower tax rates than ours.

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None of this is an argument against cutting company tax, except that it's expensive. When fully phased in, the government's full cut would have cost $11.3 billion per year, about as much as the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Aside from the few billion that would have returned to it in higher income tax collections from shareholders whose imputation benefits were cut, it was silent about where it would have found the money.