Bill Shorten clueless on NDIS figures

Bill Shorten unable to say how much a Labor government would raise for NDIS to keep deficit levy and limit Medicare levy.

Bill Shorten delivers his budget reply address on Thursday night. Picture: Getty Images.

Bill Shorten has been unable to say how much revenue a future Labor government would raise for the National Disability Insurance Scheme from his policies to keep the temporary deficit levy on high-income earners and limit the Medicare levy.

The Opposition Leader last night launched a class war over the federal budget with plans to raise the top personal tax rate to 49.5 per cert for people earning more than $180,000 a year while restricting the government’s 0.5 per cent hike in the Medicare levy to those earning over $87,000.

The Coalition’s Medicare levy increase, from 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent in two years’ time, is predicted to reap $3.55 billion in 2019-20 and $4.25bn in 2020-21.

Asked how much Labor’s scaled-down version would raise, Mr Shorten told ABC radio: “I’d have to go and check our final figures in the costings.

“We believe that the combination of not giving the top end of town an income-tax cut and our half a per cent above $87,000 will actually be more revenue positive and certainly in the next four years it balances out compared to the government’s option.”

Mr Shorten, who also did not specify a figure in his budget reply speech last night, said the Medicare levy policy had been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office.

“Over the next four years our option will roughly be the same as theirs in terms of revenue raised and over the next 10 years it’ll be slightly ahead,” he said.

The confusion over the policy came as Mr Shorten declared Scott Morrison and the government should “hang their head in shame using the NDIS as some sort of hostage to pass away their priorities of giving millionaires a tax cut”, saying the scheme should be “above politics”.

Mr Shorten’s office released figures to The Australian showing that its two policies – restricting the Medicare levy and continuing the deficit levy – minus the government’s proposed Medicare levy would cost the budget $400 million over the forward estimates but bring in $4.45bn in the “medium term”.

The Turnbull government has said the increased Medicare levy will help to fully fund the NDIS.

“I don’t accept the simplistic equation which says that the only way we can provide Medicare or we can provide NDIS by asking people on $50,000 a year to pay more income tax,” Mr Shorten said.

“That is rubbish and the government was flushed out yesterday where we’ve discovered they’re going to spend $65 billion and hand that back from the budget to large companies.”

High-income earners will carry most of the burden of the Turnbul­l government’s proposed increase in the Medicare levy, which will largely exempt those on low incomes.