Australians shouldn’t expect personal income tax cuts anytime soon.

As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull continues to argue the case for business tax cuts, he says individual tax cuts are not affordable at a time when the budget is in deficit and debt unacceptably high.

“As we can afford to reduce personal income taxes, we will,” he promised in an address to the National Press Club today.

However, he did remind the Canberra audience the average earning tax band was adjusted in the last budget to prevent 500,000 workers tumbling into the second highest tax bracket.

Mr Turnbull spent a large proportion of his address arguing the case for his government’s planned $50 billion in business tax cuts, claiming average workers would be $750 a year better off if the company tax rate was 25 per cent now.

Years of research - much of it commissioned by the previous Labor government - had revealed company tax was overwhelmingly a tax on workers and their salaries.

“None of this will come as a surprise to Labor who supported, but now oppose, a cut to business tax,” Mr Turnbull said.

The business tax cuts were the cornerstone of last year’s pre-election budget.

The company tax rate would be cut incrementally from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over the next decade, adding one per cent to economic growth when fully implemented.

Labor frontbencher Jason Clare said if the prime minister’s best argument on business tax cuts is workers will get $2 a day in 10-years’ time, “then I think he is buggered”.

As families struggle to get their kids back to school this week, $2 wouldn’t even buy a pen, he said.

Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox believes the coalition should put its initial tranche of legislation to parliament in the next two months, dropping the rate from 30 to 27.5 per cent for small and medium-sized companies by mid-2019.

“It would be better to compromise and lock in an achievable near-term goal while setting in train a more substantial evaluation of how we can build a more competitive tax system,” he says.

Senator Nick Xenophon says his team will support a tax cut for businesses with a turnover of up to $10 million.

“Beyond that, we remain to be convinced,” he said.

“It’s a question of priorities - we are facing a crisis of manufacturing in this country.”