Budget tonight 7.30pm ABC

[Rorschach]

What about people on the dole?

I thought they were going to get another $50 per week.

Nope no one said that Bobby... even if they should get an increase.
Both major parties have let those unemployed down for years.

[Rorschach]

It appears the debt and deficit disaster has gone , odd given debt has exploded under this rabble

Nah... they are still paying off Labors debt... and will be for years to come...
Not to mention the unfunded and underfunded, Labor saddled us with, like the NBN and NDIS.

[mellie]

My mother told me the government were going to put millions into investigating child related offenses, so police could get on with their job of policing and a specialist taskforce are to investigate and gather evidence, not so?


Sounded too good to be true. Lol

And definitely not something Malcolm would want.

[Rorschach]

My mother told me the government were going to put millions into investigating child related offenses, so police could get on with their job of policing and a specialist taskforce are to investigate and gather evidence, not so?


Sounded too good to be true. Lol

And definitely not something Malcolm would want.

Wouldn't that be a State Government responsibility?

[mellie]

Apparently it was to be federally funded.

Ill delve into it more Roach.

[Rorschach]

Instant hit feeds into long-term tax agenda
The Australian
12:00AM May 9, 2018
Chris Kenny

Most of us were expecting something of an election budget, just not for the 2021 and 2024 elections. Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull have done something that might prove very wise; in an era where politicians and policies have had the shelf-life of a smashed avocado, they have dared to offer a degustation menu.

Their income tax plan provides some instant relief for workers and families on low incomes but the core of their budget is a tax realignment that plays out over a decade. Middle-income families who have a baby this year won’t see the full fruits of this plan in their pay packets until the child is in its third year of school.

But the destination is eminently sensible and attractive; a place where workers pay no tax on their first $18,000, only 19c in the dollar on income up to $41,000 and then most will pay 32.5 per cent for the rest of their working lives. The top tax rate of 45 per cent won’t kick in until people earn more than $200,000.

This gives pay-as-you-earn taxpayers an attractively lower and flatter tax regime. Importantly it is one that is phased in gradually and is affordable, so it doesn’t jar with the recent experience of fiscal chaos and the core narrative of budget responsibility.

It also compliments the government’s controversial company tax plan, which Labor is dedicated to opposing. The parts of that plan yet to be implemented — blocked by Labor and the Greens in the Senate — would cost $35 billion over the next decade. This is put in the shade four times over by the $140bn cost of the personal income tax cuts.

So the Coalition is saying it wants workers to keep four times more of their wages than it wants large businesses to keep of their profits. It puts the tax plans in perspective and helps to show that the relative cost of the company tax cuts might just be ­affordable given their potential to foster investment, jobs and wages growth.

Economists, unions, business leaders and politicians have ­argued for many years that we need substantial taxation reform. We have seen little of substance since the structural reform of the GST almost two decades ago. Yet Morrison and Turnbull, having floated and abandoned more ambitious tax reforms such as a state income tax or higher GST, have now compiled a reasonable ­agenda through incrementalism on company and income taxes.

Taken together these plans would lead to a simpler, lower and fairer taxation system. This is the troika of outcomes most desire.

The big catch is that the implementation requires a political performance from the Coalition that is good enough to see it re-elected later this year or early next, as well as at least one more election, and probably two, after that. It is a monumental ask given the volatility of modern politics, disunity within the Coalition and the government’s recent ineptitude on political advocacy.

Still, it now has a plausible plan to sell. It is one that has something for everyone — eventually.

Voters have been promised too much over the past decade. We have had $900 cheques in the mail, free set-top boxes plugged in, free roof insulation installed, we’ve been promised a broadband super­highway to our door and had four surpluses ­announced just six years ago. We might be ready for some more plausible pledges; some more feasible plans.

Sure, the Coalition has been lucky, with economic growth based largely on Donald Trump-inspired global conditions. Yet the genius of the Coalition’s pedestrian fiscal plan is that it provides a contrast. There is a sharp break from a bipolar budgetary and political past (where Labor talked of economic conservatism then railed against extreme capitalism) as well as a distinction from Bill Shorten’s class warfare and plan to increase taxes and spending.

Turnbull and Morrison are saying spending and taxing need to be capped and it is time to get our house in order. The benefits for voters will take time to accrue.

Some commentators, myself included, would have liked to have seen more reform earlier, ­especially on the expenditure side, to minimise exposure to downside risks such as global downturns, deterioration in our terms of trade or hikes in interest rates. But there have been distinct handbrakes on what has been possible with an obstructionist senate and an opposition blind to any concept of mandates. So the Turnbull government has been distinguished by incremental advancements and compromise.

This budget consolidates that approach to finally provide the cohesive economic narrative first promised by Turnbull when he challenged Tony Abbott in 2015. Now, with a tax plan for workers and companies, and a surplus within grasp as the debt peak approaches, the Prime Minister has a story to sell.

It is more than an economic narrative. If it is properly argued (another big “if”), Turnbull will be able to ask voters whether they want to turn their backs on a decade of volatile and changeable politics and back the Coalition for a steady, if unadventurous, path forward. Dare we say it, he might offer a more comfortable and ­relaxed future than Shorten, ­especially if he could get Abbott involved in selling it.

[mellie]

Charity/welfare should be for the needy, not middle class and greedy.

Degusation menu indeed.

[Bobby]

What about people on the dole?

I thought they were going to get another $50 per week.

Nope no one said that Bobby... even if they should get an increase.
Both major parties have let those unemployed down for years.

I know an old friend of mine who is very unwell &
can't get the DSP & is living in misery on the lousy $250 a week of Newstart.
It hadly pays his rent.
Many doctors have said that he's too ill to work & put it in writing
but Centerlink won't accept it.
God help me if I lose my job & need Centerlink.
I'd rather be dead.

This Govt. is so cruel -
the Budget never even mentioned people living in poverty on the dole.

[Malcolm_hates_your_kids]

What about people on the dole?

I thought they were going to get another $50 per week.

Nope no one said that Bobby... even if they should get an increase.
Both major parties have let those unemployed down for years.

I know an old friend of mine who is very unwell &
can't get the DSP & is living in misery on the lousy $250 a week of Newstart.
It hadly pays his rent.
Many doctors have said that he's too ill to work & put it in writing
but Centerlink won't accept it.
God help me if I lose my job & need Centerlink.
I'd rather be dead.

This Govt. is so cruel -
the Budget never even mentioned people living in poverty on the dole.

The stalkers get the health benefits!

The stalked and incapacitated never get helped unless its obvious but when you're too incapacitated/busy running/dIsTRactED to speak properly you're f****D!

[Neferti]

Charity/welfare should be for the needy, not middle class and greedy.

Degusation menu indeed.

What, exactly, is "Middle Class"?