"Thanks" B1G, and not a C&P line, gosh !.
I guess you still do not read all of your numerous C&P's because you would have found within your one this:
"The welfare problem is by and large an ageing population problem. And it is a problem that will be much better served with a bit more context and a lot less of political parties blaming each other, the unemployed or those on disability pensions".
Notice the part "better served with a bit more context and a lot less of political parties blaming each other"
Context is good: " it intends to lavish up to $50,000 for high income earners to have a child at a whopping cost of $5 billion a year." B1G, what exactly do you dislike about the funding associated with the scheme (which I find over-generous) bearing in mind that only 2% of the female working population earn $100,000 or more?
"In Opposition, wasn’t it the Coalition that always complained about Labor engaging in class warfare? " Yes, inbetween observing the Circus warfare. However, one would have to be now perplexed at this apparent ALP reverse class warfare tactic of objecting to increasing the tax that high earners would have to pay.
Now a repeat of some of Alan Kohler's observations via the ABC, would it be better if they were from the "Independent ABC"?
Plugging the revenue gap means higher taxes
As I wrote last year (Those income tax cuts aren't looking so good now, December 18; Income tax has to go up, December 16), Australia's tax revenue is too low for the level of government spending that's locked in, largely as a result of the ageing of the population as well as the extra spending agreed for education and disability.
Indirect taxes (GST and excise) are growing more slowly than GDP and, given its structure, increasing the GST rate is almost impossible. The rate of excise could be re-indexed but that would take too long and wouldn't be enough.
The permanent income tax cuts and increased middle-class welfare given by John Howard during the temporary mining boom were reckless and now need to be reversed by his Coalition successor. The Labor Party didn't have the courage, the competence or the economic conditions to do it, so the Coalition must clean up its own mistakes and restore the revenue.
So yes, Australia's fiscal problem is all about elections, past and future, and promises made in the heat of anxiety and then broken or regretted.
More specifically, the budget now suffers from a decade of unstinting fiscal incompetence, starting with Howard and Costello's income tax cuts and middle-class welfare increases; Rudd, Gillard and Swan's spending and general ineptitude; and finally, last year's ridiculous promises by Tony Abbott for more tax cuts and more spending.
The next 10 years will be spent cleaning up the mess of the past 10 years.
Alan Kohler is the editor-in-chief of Business and Eureka Report, as well as finance presenter on ABC News.
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