LABOR HAS IT RIGHT.
I remember reading a ridiculous article by a ridiculous doctor who wrote that with an election coming up, you had to consider who to vote for, and would you vote Right for tax cuts for businesses so that they could employ more people and hence reduce the amount spent on social security. In a labor-intensive economy, that would make sense.
The former Coalition Government in Australia had Stage Three Tax Cuts for people earning over $180,000, but the Labor Government has tweaked them to allow for greater tax cuts for those earning less. And predictably, the Coalition is now saying that they will reverse them if they win government next election. Heaven forbid. Experts had been warning that the tax cuts would not benefit the economy.
Equally predictably, the stupidest politician in Australia, Pauline Hanson, has said that she’s had a gutful and that those on lower incomes get all this extra money and they will squander it. Where she aligns with the ridiculous doctor is that in a capital-intensive economy, we all know that businesses, especially those in retail, will spend money on more capital so that they can increase their profits! What Hanson is also doing that is plain wrong is saying that those on lower incomes obtain rent assistance, Family Tax Benefits A and B and plus, plus, plus. Rent Assistance is for those on social security, and Family Tax Benefits are for those on social security with children and for some low income earners. She is talking in the same vein of nonsense as Anne Ruston, who claimed that any increase would go into the pockets of drug dealers. Well, hello, the stereotypical drug user is someone with tattoos up their arms, bloodshot eyes and an unshaven, unkempt appearance, but there are plenty of drug users on high incomes.
Furthermore, low-income earners do not have the ability to make use of offshore tax havens like higher ones do! And if Hanson has had a gutful of something, chances are it’s good stuff.
Australia, like many countries around the world, is facing a high cost of living, and for those with mortgages, a tax cut can mean more money to spend on mortgages. And it could also mean less pain at the checkout.
The Liberals always claim that taxes will be higher under Labor, but what they ignore is, the huge surplus that they claim they left when John Howard was voted out of office came from the sale of public assets among other things. I encountered a sickening a-hole on twitter who claimed that he was “tired of waiting for us socialists to grow up.” Socialism is not a sign of immaturity. Privatisation is about taking from the hands of the public to place into the hands of a few, who profit! In effect, washing their hands of the issue!
It is time for us to see that the truth of the matter is that we do not live in a labor-intensive economy, and tax cuts for large businesses do not provide for more employment opportunities or more money into the economy. Tax cuts need to be provided for those who benefit and that means ignoring the nonsense from the Right.