Page 1984 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 May 2013
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On family assistance, the government will no longer proceed with the increase to the family tax benefit part A announced in the 2012-13 budget worth $2.5 billion. Ms Wong said the government had been forced to back away from some spending promises associated with the mining tax, particularly an increase to the rate of the family tax benefit part A. This is just another hit on Canberra families from the Gillard-Swan government.
With regard to the tax on superannuation, the Prime Minister promised that the government would never remove tax-free superannuation payments for the over 60s, yet the government announced a 15 per cent tax on superannuation earnings for those who are self-funded retirees, a forward structure potentially allowing those with small and large balances to be taxed. Superannuation is an industry which requires certainty. Hardworking Australians who are contributing to superannuation and planning for their retirement need to have certainty in what they will be facing. This is not possible under the Gillard-Swan government.
Remember the private health insurance rebates? Julia Gillard gave an ironclad guarantee that she would never touch the private health insurance rebate. This is just another broken promise, another lie from the Gillard government.
Remember the Medicare levy? Australians will pay the highest effective tax rates in almost a decade under Julia Gillard’s plans to lift the Medicare levy, a broken promise. After previously saying she would not fund disability care with the levy, Ms Gillard announced a hike from 1.5 to two per cent because she had changed her mind.
Then, of course, there are the surpluses. Despite Labor’s constant promise to deliver a budget surplus, after six budgets, again Treasurer Swan has failed to deliver a surplus. At the handing down of the 2013-14 budget, Mr Swan has now announced that the budget would return to surplus in 2016-17. I am not sure anyone believes it. I am not sure anyone trusts the numbers in this budget. I am not sure anyone has any faith that a Labor government will break the 23-year drought since they last delivered a surplus in the late 80s. Again, what we have got is broken promises. Four years of surplus have turned, I think most commentators are assuming, into four years of deficits.
As to the higher education amenity fees, Stephen Smith stated in 2007:
I am not considering a HECS style arrangement, I’m not considering a compulsory HECS style arrangement and the whole basis of the approach is one of a voluntary approach. So I am not contemplating a compulsory amenity fee.
Yet on 11 February 2009, the Minister for Youth and Sport introduced the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Student Services and Amenities, and Other Measures) Bill 2009. The bill imposed a $250 annual fee on all university students, whether they were full time, part time, studying on campus or external.
The list goes on: cutting company tax, defence cuts, standard deductions on tax returns, foreign aid cuts, tax discounts on interest income, onshore processing, the East Timor solution, the solar credit scheme and delays in the national curriculum.
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