Labor tax change to pass over Pauline Hanson’s ‘dead body’

Senator plans to use Labor’s dividend imputation crackdown as an ‘insurance policy’ against a Shorten government.

Senator Pauline Hanson has declared ‘this trashy tax heist will pass the Senate over my dead body’. Picture: Kym Smith

Pauline Hanson will use Labor’s $59 billion dividend imputation crackdown to urge voters to support One Nation as an “insurance policy” against a future Shorten government, saying the tax grab would pass the Senate over her “dead body”.

Senator Hanson yesterday said a One Nation Senate bloc would reject the “cruel plan to steal up to 30 per cent from the incomes of over a million older Australians and pensioners” and enshrined the issue at the heart of her campaign to claim a balance-of-power status in the next Senate.

The One Nation leader’s push follows the release of Treasury analysis of Australian Taxation Office data showing the Queensland seats of Herbert (ALP), Forde (LNP), Capricornia (LNP), Longman (ALP) and Flynn (LNP) are home to more than 26,200 voters receiving the refundable franking credits Labor proposes to scrap.

Mr Shorten yesterday signalled that Labor would move to offer further support for pensioners after The Australian reported on Thursday a supplement package was being considered for up to 250,000 pensioners captured by the shake-up.

“Pensioners are always better off under Labor and we’ll have more to say about how we’ll help pensioners going forward,” Mr Shorten told ABC Radio.

Labor also hit back at Treasury analysis showing 97 per cent of ­individuals who received the franking credit refunds had a “taxable income” of below $87,000, with 54 per cent falling below the $18,200 tax-free threshold.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said this benchmark underestimated the wealth of those receiving the refundable franking credits because it excluded a “whole range of income, ­including that from superannuation”.

Mr Shorten said the package — estimated to raise $11.4bn over the forward estimates and $59bn over the decade — amounted to a budget reform that would allow a ­future Labor government to better fund schools and health services while giving it the option of delivering deeper tax cuts for struggling households.

Senator Hanson yesterday declared “this trashy tax heist will pass the Senate over my dead body”.

“Mr Shorten’s plan is theft. It’s daylight robbery,” she said. “It’s no secret Labor is making a pitch for the youth vote and has made a conscious decision to throw older Australians under the bus.

“Labor’s plan won’t work ­because we will make a pitch to the Australian people to elect One Nation as an insurance policy against Bill Shorten’s shifty dealings.”

Economist Saul Eslake yesterday said Labor could use the revenue from its plan to scrap the refundable tax credits to compensate self-funded retirees on “genuinely low” incomes at a cost of about $240m to $460m a year.