Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is refusing to scrap stage three tax cuts that will help Australia’s richest binches, despite calls for them to be delayed, revisited or ditched altogether. Thanks, my guy.
The cuts were legislated by the former Coalition government in 2019 and were introduced to parliament in three stages. Labor initially opposed the third stage but then came around to it, and committed to keeping the cuts during the party’s election campaign.
The changes are set to come into effect on July 1, 2024. Once they’re introduced, it’ll mean everyone earning between $45,000 and $200,000 will pay 30 per cent in tax. The 37 per cent tax bracket for anyone earning more than $120,000 will also be abolished. Cool!
Albanese made the announcement at the National Press Club in Canberra on Monday, essentially saying Labor didn’t want to reverse its election promise.
“People need to look at what happened with the tax cuts, which was that we actually tried to amend out the stage three of the tax cuts. And we weren’t successful. And they were legislated,” he said.
“The parliament made a decision to legislate those tax cuts, and we made a decision that we would stand by that legislation rather than re-litigate it, and we haven’t changed our opinion.”
Does anyone know Shaq’s position on our upcoming stage three income tax cuts? #auspol #Shaq
— Paul Kneeshaw (@Stick_Beetle) August 28, 2022
But the PM has copped shit from members of the crossbench and the opposition for refusing to budge on the tax cuts, which will cost the budget $243 billion over the next decade.
Per The Sydney Morning Herald, at least nine out of the 18 crossbenchers are against the cuts and want to see them postponed or scrapped.
Senator David Pocock told the publication the tax cuts were a bad move, which would disproportionately benefit high income earners.
“A lot has changed since they were legislated – bushfires, COVID, fires, floods, no real wage growth, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sky-high energy prices, housing crisis,” he said.
“It’s clearly skewed towards the wealthy and skewed towards men… it doesn’t seem credible.”
Senator Jacqui Lambie agreed, telling the SMH that Australia’s economy was too borked for the cuts.
“The stage three tax cuts have to go,” she said.
“I voted for them three years ago, but made it clear we would need to have another look at them if things changed. It’s obvious that our economy isn’t in great shape since COVID.”
You know things are truly dire when a member of the Coalition admits he doesn’t need a tax cut. That’s what Liberal MP Russell Broadbent told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing on Monday.
“When things change, we should change. The world has turned on its head since the tax cuts were introduced. So people like me don’t need tax cuts,” he said.
“We’re just sending the wrong message to the Australian people at this time that tax cuts for the wealthier cohort of our community are acceptance. I think the government should bite the bullet and drop those tax cuts now and send a real message to the Australian people that we are on about those that are doing it tough.”
My man Broadbent spitting facts. Unfortunately, it looks like the PM doesn’t give a rat’s ass ‘cos he’s dead set on keeping the tax cuts.
Maybe if a crowd of people at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre cheered him on, à la chugging a beer, he’d change his mind. We can dream!
