B2B - Keeping you in the know
This budget fails the fairness test
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Budgets are about priorities . Budgets are about choices . Sadly , with this government , this budget is about winners and losers . I don ’ t really like to talk about winners and losers , but there are clear winners and losers in this budget .
No-one in my electorate of Dobell is left wondering just who the winners and losers are . The winners are clearly high-income earners , big business and the big four banks . The losers are young people , pensioners and people living outside of the big cities in regional communities like mine on the Central Coast .
The government has pushed on with its plans to deliver an $ 80 billion tax cut to big business . It is a tax cut that just isn ’ t fair and a tax cut that we can ’ t afford . The government ’ s plan to deliver tax cuts to big business is at the expense of young people , pensioners and people living outside of big cities . The government has failed to properly fund schools , failed to look after older Australians waiting for home care packages and failed younger people . This government has continued with its ideologically driven , trickle-down economics and the flawed notion that giving a tax cut to the wealthiest Australians will benefit other Australians . It isn ’ t fair and it doesn ’ t work .
There are some parts of the budget that Labor does support . Labor supports the tax changes for low- and middle-income earners that would come into effect on 1 July . We support the extension of the $ 20,000 instant asset write-off for small business and the tax cut for small businesses . We support the crackdown on the black economy and multinational tax avoidance and , to some degree , the changes on superannuation . I — more than most , as a pharmacist — support the new listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme , knowing firsthand the importance of being able to afford your medicines and see a doctor close to home when you need one most .
Labor wants to see the economy grow . We want to see more jobs . We would prefer not to be spending billions of taxpayers ’ dollars servicing the interest bill on the government ’ s record debt , which has doubled over the past five years despite positive global conditions . Labor does not believe the policy settings in this budget will mean more jobs or will pay down the debt . We are not paying down the debt fast enough , not going about it in the right way and not making the most of our opportunities . We have $ 40 billion of new receipts in the budget as a consequence of the global economy picking up after the GFC , but we don ’ t know how long these positive conditions will last . Some of the assumptions in the budget are a bit rosy , given flat wages and international uncertainty . Labor is approaching the forecasts with caution . We also have record net debt that is twice what this government inherited and gross debt of over half a trillion dollars .
We don ’ t agree with the company tax cut for big business , especially to the big banks , given the evidence that has been heard by the royal commission . It ’ s important to note that Labor opposes the tax cuts for big business and high-income earners not on ideological grounds but for fiscal and economic reasons : we cannot afford them , and we can do better . Labor priorities are about targeting tax relief at low- and middle-income earners in genuinely small and medium enterprises . That ’ s why we would introduce the Australian investment guarantee , to give tax relief to companies investing onshore , in Australia . We want people to have lower taxes so they can spend more on the things they need in local businesses in regional communities like mine .
We want businesses to have the workers that they need , so we will waive upfront fees to 100,000 TAFE students .
On the question of tax , Labor will ensure bigger income tax cuts for 10 million working Australians . Labor will provide tax cuts to everyone who earns up to $ 120,000 a year . But Labor will not give an $ 80 billion tax cut to big businesses , and Labor will not give a $ 17 billion tax cut to big banks . By not supporting tax cuts for large corporations and by closing loopholes in our tax system , Labor will be able to restore $ 17 billion in schools funding , restore $ 2.8 billion in hospitals funding , restore $ 2.2 billion to universities and restore $ 473 million to TAFE .
Alysson Watson , Media Advisor
Emma McBride MP , Labor Federal Member for Dobell