By Alison Bevege
SYDNEY, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison has defended his plan to reduce company taxes after the central bank warned the proposed cuts could scuttle plans to get the national budget back into surplus by 2021.
Morrison said in a television interview on Sunday that no government tax measure would jeopardise getting the budget into surplus by 2021, a promise that has been made in the last five annual budget statements.
The treasurer noted that besides the United States, which has already cut taxes, France, Germany and Britain were all considering company tax cuts and that Australia had to keep up.
"If we don't, jobs and investment go offshore which is bad for people's wages, it's bad for people's jobs and its bad for growth in the economy," he said.
When pressed on the risk of rising global interest rates making it harder for the government to service its debt, Morrison stressed the importance of keeping Australia's AAA credit rating.
The government is trying to pass legislation to lower the tax rate to 25 percent from 30 percent on companies with a turnover of more than A$50 million ($40 million).
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe told the parliamentary economics committee on Friday that it would be a "big mistake" to pay for corporate tax cuts with a higher deficit.
He said the benefits of tax cuts would be short-lived if every country joined a race to the bottom.
Lowe has said the outlook for the rising U.S. budget deficit is "very problematic". said on Sunday that unlike the United States, Australia would cut taxes within a budget that was still projected to come into balance in 2021.
($1 = 1.2641 Australian dollars)