Jim Chalmers dismisses Angus Taylor’s ‘unhinged’ reaction to lunch policy costings

Jim Chalmers has dismissed his opposition counterpart’s “unhinged” response to a policy that could cost the Australian taxpayer “billions”.

Jim Chalmers has dismissed his opposition counterpart’s “unhinged” response to Treasury costings of the Coalition’s tax deductible business lunch policy.

The policy would allow businesses with a turnover of less than $10m to claim $20,000 for business-related meal and entertainment expenses, such as treating a client to a round of golf.

It would deal an annual $1.6bn blow to Commonwealth coffers, according to conservative Treasury costings released on Tuesday.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor rebuked the price tag, saying the Parliamentary Budget Office had costed the policy at “under $250m”.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is accusing the Albanese government of trying to turn the public service into ‘an arm of the Labor Party’. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

He also accused the Albanese government of trying to turn the public service into “an arm of the Labor Party”.

“This is an egregious politicisation of the public service to get the Treasury to do this analysis,” Mr Taylor told Sky News.

“It is absolutely at odds, in our view, with the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct.

“I’ll be writing to Stephen Kennedy today, the secretary of Treasury, asking for a full explanation as to why he has done this.”

But speaking to reporters later, the Treasurer said it was part of his job “to understand risks to the budget”.

“I heard Angus Taylor was losing it this morning on TV,” Mr Chalmers said.

“I heard he was just as unhinged as the day that we got those good inflation figures, and he’s made a bit of a habit of losing the plot.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he would ‘rather not’ have asked the Treasury to run the costings. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

He said he would “rather not” have asked the Treasury to run costings for the Coalition.

“I would rather a responsible opposition provided the costings of their policy and told Australians what they were going to cut to pay for it,” Mr Chalmers said.

“Part of my job is to understand risks to the budget, and this is a very substantial risk to the budget.

“This would smash the budget, and so I’ve taken this step to inform myself and the Australian community what the implications of this policy would be.

“It would have been more usual and preferable, frankly, if the Coalition had been upfront from the start.”

Peter Dutton announced the policy last month as part of the opposition’s election bid.

It was met with mixed reactions, with critics asking if it was the soundest move as Australia weathers a cost-of-living crisis.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced the Coalition’s tax deductible business lunch policy in January. Picture: NewsWire / Valeriu Campan

In a joint statement earlier, Mr Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the policy would add to existing deductions at a blow to the budget of “more than $10bn a year if all eligible businesses claimed what they’d be entitled to”.

The Treasury costings suggested the policy could cost more, partly because of how tough it would be to police.

“If take-up and average claims are higher than expected or if businesses rort the system by illegitimately claiming food and entertainment that is personal, not for business, the cost of the policy would increase substantially,” the ministers said.

“For example, if take-up increased by 30 per cent, the proposal would cost $2bn per year.

If take-up increased by 50 per cent, the proposal would cost $2.4bn per year.”

The Opposition Leader has promised to reveal the Coalition’s costings before the upcoming federal election.

He pitched it as “a win for the small business spending the money on their staff or clients and a win for the hospitality venues who will see an increased spend in their businesses”.

Originally published as Jim Chalmers dismisses Angus Taylor’s ‘unhinged’ reaction to lunch policy costings