CANBERRA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A group of Australia's top employers have promised to deliver strong wage growth and create more jobs if the government delivers a company tax cut.
With the government edging closer to securing numbers required in the Senate to pass the major cuts, 10 of Australia's biggest companies issued an open letter saying under the changes they would "invest more in Australia."
"If the Senate passes this important legislation we, as some of the nation's largest employers, commit to invest more in Australia which will lead to employing more Australians and therefore stronger wage growth as the tax cut takes effect," the letter, released through the Business Council of Australia on Wednesday night, said.
Signatories to the letter included the heads of BHP, Fortescue Metals Group Limited, Qantas Airways and supermarket giants Woolworths and Wesfarmers.
Under the proposed new laws, the tax rate for companies with annual revenue exceeding 50 million Australian dollars (38.8 million U.S. dollars) would be reduced from 30 percent to 25 percent over 10 years.
Having won the support of independent Tasmanian Senator Steve Martin, the government requires just one more vote from the crossbench to push the bill through with the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Greens having previously ruled out support.
Independent South Australian Senator Tim Storer, who was sworn in on Monday, is the key to the bill being passed or defeated with both the ALP and governing Liberal National Party trying to win his support.
Storer received phone calls from the heads of several major companies as the bill was introduced to the Senate on Wednesday but remained non-committal.
"I'm being diligent and reviewing the matter at hand, and talking with stakeholders," he told News Corp Australia on Thursday.
