Unfair Morrison tax plan will cost all of us   
5 July 2019
ACTU

     Unfair Morrison tax plan will cost all of us   

Scott Morrison’s plan to put cleaners, farm workers and shop assistants in the same tax bracket as senior executives will see him slash government spending on infrastructure, aged care, pensions, hospitals, schools, scientific research, industry development, skills training and universities to make up for the lost revenue.

The peak body for working people has slammed the cuts, demanding Mr Morrison explain which services he will cut to pay for stage three of his tax plan.

The Morrison Government refused to pass modest tax cuts for working people on low and middle incomes without also attaching much larger handouts for those earning more than half a million dollars a year.

The third stage of the tax plan mainly benefits very high income earners.

The result is a flat tax for people paid between $45,000 and $200,000 a year – a regressive move that abolishes the progressive nature of Australia’s taxation system.

Mr Morrison’s assertion that the budget will not need to be cut relies on optimistic wage growth targets that the Coalition has repeatedly failed to reach in the past.

It will require substantial cuts to government services that working people depend on, will see people who do public service work funded by the commonwealth sacked, and will make our country less fair.

The cuts come at a time of sustained record low wages growth, meaning working people will have less capacity to pay the out-of-pocket costs incurred by looming federal government cuts.

Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Sally McManus:

“It is telling of this government’s priorities that they refused to pass a tax cut for people on low and middle incomes without also attaching much larger cuts for people on half a million dollars a year.

“The third stage of the tax cuts fundamentally changes the progressive nature of our tax system. It puts people on barely more than the minimum wage in the same tax bracket as people who are paid five times as much.

“Why should the office cleaner and the CEO be in the same tax bracket?

“Scott Morrison has set a time bomb ticking. They have no plan to reach their wage growth targets, and when they fail to meet those targets the result will be cuts to services and job losses in schools, hospitals, universities, aged care and the community sector.

“Scott Morrison needs to explain which services that working people rely on he is going to cut to pay for the third stage of these cuts. Will we have fewer nurses? Fewer hospital beds? Fewer teachers, or fewer schools? Will we have longer wait times? Lower Medicare rebates?

“Tax cuts are not a substitute for real wage increases. Scott Morrison and his Government’s plan will deliberately keep wages low.

“They’ve cut penalty rates. They’ve capped public service wages to produce real wage cuts. And they’ve admitted it’s a ‘design feature’ of their economic plan.                                                                     

“I invite Scott Morrison to take the sensible actions on wages that we have proposed – reverse penalty rate cuts, remove public service caps and support a living wage.”

Yes our great economic managers - once again giving away money that they don't have.

Thay fail on economics 101 every one of them every time.

Proof of the concept that if you pay monkeys more money they buy more peanuts.

stunspore wrote on Jul 7^th, 2019 at 9:41am:


Mine is going to the Kaymens.

Captain Nemo wrote on Jul 7^th, 2019 at 10:38am:

Labor is not motivated by the desire not to see a surplus. Labor is motivated by the real need to avoid a possible recession. By refusing Labor's amendments to stimulate the economy, the Coalition are the ones who would wear any economic downturn.

You crap on about Labor's plans, but the Coalition have no plans at all! What would the Coalition do to rescue the economy? Austerity? That's a guaranteed path to more pain. Negative economy plus negative government spending equals more negative economy. Government austerity during an economic downturn does not work. Tax cuts for the rich? That won't work either. They're not going to spend them.

Captain Nemo wrote on Jul 7^th, 2019 at 10:38am:

I disagree. Whether the Federal Budget is positive or negative by some numbers after the decimal point is of little consequence. The Coalition promised a Budget surplus "in the first term". This didn't happen. They were re-elected.

Allowing the economy to slide into recession is much worse for any government. Governments that are in office during a recession are usually voted out at the next election. If the Coalition managed to deliver a surplus, but ended up crashing the economy into recession, it is not that surplus that will be top of mind for voters at the next election.

This is why Labor tried to bring forward the second part of the tax cuts. Leaving them as they are is too late to stimulate an economy that needs real help over the next 12 months.

Captain Nemo wrote on Jul 7^th, 2019 at 10:38am:



yeah ... shut the gate After THE horse has bolted.

Captain Nemo wrote on Jul 7^th, 2019 at 10:38am:


You could not be further from the point.

There was never any possibility of a budget surplus and the budget figures support that position - the claims of a budget surplus was nothing more than an election year lie.

Growth needs to be double what is is with no additional spending for a surplus to be barely possible and they have now locked in billions in short medium and long term spending. The growth expectation has been downgraded and the RBA have cut interest rates meaning that the budget bottom line is in trouble and not the opposite.

Labor have no impact on the Liberals timing agenda at all, that claim is just silly. There was never any chance of a surplus this financial year, none at all even the budget that claimed a future surplus contained the proof that it will not happen.

The announced surplus is the reason SloMo's staff are carrying fire extinguishers - they are worried about his pants catching fire.

Captain Nemo wrote on Jul 7^th, 2019 at 10:38am:


Quote:


Giving a shite load of money you don't have to your mates isn't even vaguely related to any type of reform. In fact is is as shorter term thinking as is possible.

They have given away billions to people who don't need it and they don't even know how they will pay for it. Dumb as dog doo doo.

Dnarever wrote on Jul 7^th, 2019 at 11:52am:


Oh I thought it was supposedly "lies" about NEW taxes. If people end up paying more tax, for whatever reason, it is a tax increase. It increases the amount of tax paid on the same income.

Like the proposed CGT discount being halved on sale of rental properties.