Page 3216 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 21 August 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
From 2012-13 through to 2018, own-source taxation increased at a rate of 6.8 per cent per annum—6.8 per cent! In the same time, population growth was about two per cent, perhaps even a tad lower. We have had taxation increasing at 6.8 per cent and population increasing at two per cent. If we put inflation on top of that, it is still nowhere near that 6.8 per cent increase that we have had since 2012.
For all this talk that it is more efficient, for all this talk that they have abolished taxes, the insurance duty and stamp duty savings are pretty much in the margins, especially for that family that still live in their own home, and have for years, for that family that paid stamp duty all those years ago.
The majority of home owners in Canberra who have recently purchased a property know all too well that stamp duty is alive in the ACT, because people are still paying huge amounts in stamp duty. That is why, despite the fact that stamp duty was abolished, despite the fact that stamp duty was going out the door, stamp duty today still brings in $260 million in revenue. That is $260 million from a tax that was supposedly abolished.
Canberrans have been conned. Canberrans do not make the wrong decisions. Canberrans have been deceived. They were told by their government back in 2012 that it would just be a cup of coffee a week: it would be marginal; it would just be $2.80 a week; they would hardly notice it. Well, Canberrans are noticing it, and it is those on the lowest incomes that are noticing it the most.
There is no doubt that there are many families in Canberra that can manage the increases in the cost of living that this government is imposing. But I also know of many families in Canberra that are doing it tough, many families that would have been part of the Labor base: the working poor, the people that were doing it tough but were having a go. They are the people that the ACT Labor Party has left behind. They have not left Labor; Labor has left them.
The Labor Party of today is not the Labor Party they once supported. This Labor Party needs a massive reset. This Labor Party needs to recalibrate. This Labor Party needs to go back to its roots, because it is hurting so many families that should be its natural constituency.
Since 2011-12 the fixed charge has increased by more than 60 per cent. There is the fixed charge of rates. That is why it is regressive; that is why it is punitive. The fire and emergency services levy has increased by more than 240 per cent. Again, that is a fixed charge, a punitive charge with a regressive impact.
Further to that, this government has impacted low income households by numerous changes to the structure of concessions regimes and other policies. They have eroded concessions; they have increased the flat charges or the flat fees. They have increased taxation beyond the revenue replacement that they promised, and beyond population growth. There is a regressive transfer of costs as part of that revenue replacement. And then there are distributional impacts from the revenue replacement of stamp duty to general rates. We are not just talking about people who are buying homes; we are talking about everybody paying even more.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video