Tony Abbott offers mother of a tax slug as maternity plan to cost investors Tony Abbott has confirmed there would be no franking credits on the 1.5 per cent levy to be paid by 3200 big businesses. SELF-funded retirees and "mum-and-dad" investors will lose tax breaks on share dividends worth about $1.6 billion a year to help pay for Tony Abbott's plan to boost paid parental leave. Treasurer Chris Bowen said it would also be a slug on workers, as almost all owned shares via superannuation. "This is Tony Abbott's giant raid on Australia's investors to pay for his unravelling signature policy," Mr Bowen said. Last night, in the Sky News People's Forum in Brisbane, Mr Abbott and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd clashed over parental leave as they took questions from an audience of about 100 undecided voters. As Mr Rudd repeatedly attacked the $5.5 billion-a-year cost of the Coalition's scheme, Mr Abbott snapped: "Does this guy ever shut up?" Mr Rudd pressed the Opposition Leader about the exact detail of how it would be funded, saying "that just doesn't add up." Mr Abbott insisted his plan had been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office. One voter described Mr Abbott's scheme as "inequitable." Tony Abbott says his parental leave scheme is a watershed reform, but the PM says it's just a perk for the wealthy. Mr Abbott responded that it was "a watershed reform" to give a financial boost to low- and middle-income working women. Both camps claimed victory after the 60-minute debate. Mr Abbott won over 37 voters to Mr Rudd's 35, but 33 were still undecided. Who won the debate? As the election campaign reached the half-way mark, Mr Abbott confirmed there would be no franking credits on the 1.5 per cent tax on 3200 big businesses to help fund his parental leave scheme. But he insisted his policies overall would strengthen companies and "produce better dividends." The parental leave scheme, giving women their full salary up to $75,000 for 26 weeks, plus superannuation, would be good for the economy, he said. Due to begin in July 2015 it, together with his plans to abolish the carbon and mining taxes and cut regulation, would be good for investors, Mr Abbott said. Companies would be "more profitable because the economy will be stronger and the dividends will be higher," he said. But Mr Bowen said it would amount to "double taxation" of shares, as the companies paid the levy and shareholders paid tax on it. The Treasurer also claimed Opposition plans for more tax increases and spending cuts would be kept secret until the last 72 hours of the campaign, when there is a TV and radio advertising blackout. Mr Abbott said he would have to find savings to pay for his promises but rejected Mr Rudd's insistence that he would "cut, cut, cut." "I would like to be Mr Build, Build, Build so we can have more jobs, jobs, jobs," the Liberal leader said. The Opposition Leader will today pledge to save 875 lives each year by spending $46 million to speed up by 14 years the national bowel cancer screening program. When he was health minister in the Howard government, Mr Abbott expanded the scheme. He said early detection could significantly improve survival rates.