Bill Shorten misled the listeners of Jonesy and Amanda twice in his radio interview this morning about how Labor will hit Australia’s retirees with higher taxes.
When asked “will that money be coming from self-funded retirees?”
Mr Shorten first said:
“No … the income that people get in retirement from their dividends or their shares – that won’t be taxed.”
In fact, Mr Shorten’s Retiree Tax would hit more than one million Australians – including around 50,000 pensioners – with higher taxes. His Retiree Tax will cost Australians $57 billion in higher taxes.
When asked “But that’s for the difference in the rate, the tax rate”
Mr Shorten said:
“No … it’s not actually, what happens is if you get income from shares, dividends in retirement – you don’t get taxed on it.”
In fact, individuals do pay tax on dividends they receive for shares they hold and the refund they receive is the difference between the tax that has already been paid by the company.
Mr Shorten also showed a breathtaking disdain for a great number of retirees by once again describing franking credits as a ‘gift’ of some kind.
“The problem here is that these people are not self-funded.”
If franking credits for self-funded retirees are a “gift” then Mr Shorten needs to explain why he thinks it is legitimate for others to access this “gift” – including millionaires with large share portfolios, unions, union-aligned slush funds, and union-aligned superannuation funds.
While Australia’s retirees will decide for themselves how they feel about Mr Shorten’s characterisation, there is only one alternative to the view he has intentionally misled the retirees of Western Sydney.
He does not have a clue what he is saying.
This follows his refusal to be upfront with Australians about the cost of his higher taxes, the details of his Housing Taxes or his plans to increase superannuation taxes.
We know that when Bill Shorten runs out of money, he comes after yours.
Australian retirees should take Chris Bowen’s advice and vote against Labor’s unfair Retiree Tax.
