Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was less than honest when he told Insiders that the government’s vision of tax reform includes a “simpler tax system, a fairer tax system and lower tax”, writes Alex Bainbridge.
tax cuts
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is very upbeat about the economy, despite an official unemployment rate of 6.6% and a growing wealth divide. Peter Boyle investigates.
Bosses could hardly contain their glee at the 2020-21 budget. It is hardly surprising, writes Peter Boyle, given that it was a massive corporate handout.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is floating bringing forward billions of dollars worth of income tax cuts for the rich, arguing it will boost the COVID-19-ravaged economy. Jim McIlroy argues it won't help our economy and nor will the government's push for more gas.
Who should pay for the more than $300 billion COVID-19 stimulus packages? Rather than shifting the cost on to workers and the poor, Jim McIlroy points to an alternative solution.
Labor Opposition leader Bill Shorten delivered his budget reply speech on May 10, promising to deliver a “bigger, better and fairer tax cut for 10 million working Australians”.
According to federal government ministers, Medicare is unsustainable. The aged pension is also unsustainable. The NDIS is unsustainable. Many other social services are unsustainable. However, billions of dollars of tax cuts to big Australian companies are perfectly sustainable.
In the short term, the government will be stealing $5.2 billion from the public purse and handing it over in the form of tax cuts to companies with an annual turnover of up to $50 million. In the medium term the cuts go further and will cost $24 billion.
Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull have delivered a budget for the billionaires. They claim that opposition to their tax cuts for the rich is “class warfare”. But the truth is that they are the ones waging naked war against the ordinary people of Australia.
People earning less than $80,000 — the large majority — get absolutely nothing from this budget. The top 10% of taxpayers get three quarters of the benefits while the top 1% get almost half (47%) of the tax cuts.