The Greens say the government’s centrepiece income tax cuts are a trickle-down scam as analysis reveals low and middle-income earners lose their ‘tax cuts’ after a year, while the wealthy keep them forever (see table below).
The Greens are calling on Labor to reverse their support for the Liberals’ trickle-down tax cuts.
“Low-income earners’ tax cuts disappear after a year while the wealthy keep theirs’ forever,” said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.
“Buried in the budget fine print is a nasty shock for low to middle income earners. Labor should join the Greens in rejecting this trickle-down scam that locks in handouts for millionaires.”
“Millionaires get $2,500, the working poor get $250 and the unemployed get a kick in the teeth.
“Tax cuts mean nothing if you don’t have a job, and the $18B price tag for these cuts is money that should have been spent on job-rich investments like free childcare or building public housing.
“The Treasurer’s spin can’t hide the fact that these tax cuts are highly regressive and give nothing to the majority of workers in the long term. The numbers are clear as day: besides one pre-election year payment, there is zero, zilch, nothing over the budget period for anyone on less than $90,000*.
“This budget gives $99b a year in handouts to big corporations. That money should instead help low- and middle-income earners by funding free childcare, more public housing and a lift to JobSeeker.
“We need a green recovery that tackles the recession and by aiming for full employment, investing renewable energy and public housing, and lifting people out of poverty. Instead, the government is funding coal-fired power stations, locking in high employment and cutting support.
“Instead of a green recovery, this Budget is all brown and trickle-down.
“The government is spending so much money but with so little to show for it. There’s enough spending in this budget to change the country forever, but instead it’s going on handouts to big corporations and the super-wealthy.
“We may only get one chance to fix this recession. If we took this Budget’s approach during the Great Depression, we’d still be in it,” Bandt said.
*Anomaly for low to middle income cohort is the Stage 2 LITO and threshold changes mean that those on between $37,000 and $48,000 receive on average an extra $2 per week
