LETTER: Families get the short stick in LNP budget
MR TURNBULL and the Liberals had important choices to make with this budget, but once again they have chosen the top end of town over families.
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MR TURNBULL and the Liberals had important choices to make with this budget, but once again they have chosen the top end of town over families.
In a nutshell, this budget puts high income earners and big business before everyday Australians.
The difference between Labor and Liberal could not be more stark now - Labor will put people first, while the 2016 budget has shown the Liberal Party will look after high income earners and multinationals.
This budget fails to set Australia up for the future - by cutting services, cutting infrastructure, cutting skills and education.
- An extended GP Tax by stealth
- Cuts to schools
- Cuts to Medicare
- Cuts to families and pensioners that will increase the cost of living
- Cuts to higher education
- Tax cuts for multinationals
- Cuts to veterans' hospitals
But of everyone, Australian families are the biggest losers:
- Individuals who earn the most will get a double tax cut - someone on $1m will get a $16,715 tax cut while three quarters of Australian taxpayers receive absolutely nothing.
- A couple with a single income of $65,000 with three children in primary school are $3,034 worse off a year - and receive no tax cuts.
- A single mother with an income of $87,000 with two children in high school is $4,463 worse off per year as a result of the budget.
Finally, the Liberals have done very little about repairing the budget:
- The budget forecasts higher taxes than at any time while Labor was in government.
- It confirms the Government has lost control of the deficit - it has tripled the deficit in three years, while debt continues to grow.
- At the same time, the budget confirms unnecessary spending, including the Government's new $1000 baby bonus.
The Liberals say this is a plan for jobs and growth - but it's really a plan to deliver tax cuts for multinationals at the expense of Australian families.
In fact, Mr Turnbull is so desperate to give a tax cut to the top end of town that he's changed the definition of small business. Apparently in Mr Turnbull's Australia, big businesses like Goldman Sachs are a small business.
Malcolm Turnbull's budget puts big business over battlers.
BRENDAN BOGLE Mount Lofty
Originally published as LETTER: Families get the short stick in LNP budget
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