Extract from The Guardian
Bill Shorten
has rejected the latest calls to support the Turnbull government’s
$48bn tax cut plan, saying Donald Trump’s plan to slash US corporate
taxes has nothing to do with Australia.
He has also attacked the Coalition’s approach to social policy, saying its constant rhetoric about welfare bludgers is undermining Australia’s capacity to help the most vulnerable.
Speaking at the Australian Council of Social Service national conference in Sydney, the opposition leader said Labor had fought in the 1980s and 90s to establish a strong social safety net, deliberately rejecting the school of trickle-down economics espoused by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
But he said Scott Morrison wanted Australians to accept another version of trickle-down economics with his $48bn tax cut plan.
The treasurer used this week’s record-low wage growth numbers to pressure Labor to support the Coalition’s 10-year company tax cut plan.
He said the economy had to remain globally competitive given Trump’s plan to slash corporate tax rates in the US from 38.5% to 15%.
The Business Council of Australia has also used Trump’s election to reinvigorate its call for company tax cuts.
Jennifer Westacott, the BCA’s chief executive, said if Trump slashed taxes and Australia did not follow suit the impact on the country would be huge. “The impact will be akin to Australia actually increasing its company tax rate relative to other countries,” she told the Australian Financial Review.
“Put another way, if the US company tax rate is cut as proposed, the proposed company tax cuts in Australia will be needed just to maintain our competitiveness.”
But Shorten rejected the comparison on Thursday, saying Trump’s election made “absolutely no difference” to the case against corporate tax cuts in Australia. He said tax cuts would not boost employment but would increase inequality.
“How on earth does a $50bn tax plan help Australians battling flat wages right now?” he said.
“If Mr Morrison now wants Australia to go back to the failed policies of rightwing economists from 30 years ago, cutting taxes for the top end instead of investing in jobs, education, Medicare, and protecting the vulnerable, well, we need to tell him that Australia is different to that, we’re better than that, we are a kinder, more inclusive, more equal place.”
He told the audience that he believed the Newstart allowance was far too low, at just $38 a day, and he was committed to reviewing it. But he stopped short of promising to increase the allowance if Labor won the next election.
He also said Labor had returned to its “core values” before the election and had been standing up for things people wanted it to.
“And we will not waste a minute … between now and the next election, to take the opportunity to improve our policies,” he said.
He has also attacked the Coalition’s approach to social policy, saying its constant rhetoric about welfare bludgers is undermining Australia’s capacity to help the most vulnerable.
Speaking at the Australian Council of Social Service national conference in Sydney, the opposition leader said Labor had fought in the 1980s and 90s to establish a strong social safety net, deliberately rejecting the school of trickle-down economics espoused by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
But he said Scott Morrison wanted Australians to accept another version of trickle-down economics with his $48bn tax cut plan.
The treasurer used this week’s record-low wage growth numbers to pressure Labor to support the Coalition’s 10-year company tax cut plan.
He said the economy had to remain globally competitive given Trump’s plan to slash corporate tax rates in the US from 38.5% to 15%.
The Business Council of Australia has also used Trump’s election to reinvigorate its call for company tax cuts.
Jennifer Westacott, the BCA’s chief executive, said if Trump slashed taxes and Australia did not follow suit the impact on the country would be huge. “The impact will be akin to Australia actually increasing its company tax rate relative to other countries,” she told the Australian Financial Review.
“Put another way, if the US company tax rate is cut as proposed, the proposed company tax cuts in Australia will be needed just to maintain our competitiveness.”
But Shorten rejected the comparison on Thursday, saying Trump’s election made “absolutely no difference” to the case against corporate tax cuts in Australia. He said tax cuts would not boost employment but would increase inequality.
“How on earth does a $50bn tax plan help Australians battling flat wages right now?” he said.
“If Mr Morrison now wants Australia to go back to the failed policies of rightwing economists from 30 years ago, cutting taxes for the top end instead of investing in jobs, education, Medicare, and protecting the vulnerable, well, we need to tell him that Australia is different to that, we’re better than that, we are a kinder, more inclusive, more equal place.”
He told the audience that he believed the Newstart allowance was far too low, at just $38 a day, and he was committed to reviewing it. But he stopped short of promising to increase the allowance if Labor won the next election.
He also said Labor had returned to its “core values” before the election and had been standing up for things people wanted it to.
“And we will not waste a minute … between now and the next election, to take the opportunity to improve our policies,” he said.
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