The Coalition tell us that they have an economic plan for the future.
The first part of the plan is to cut government revenue.
Joe Hockey did his bit in his 2013 MYEFO.
He announced that, over three years, abolishing the carbon and mining taxes would cost the budget $17 billion with a further $3.1 billion in other tax and superannuation changes not to go ahead.
Andrew Robb kicked in with his Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Japan and China which cost the budget $7.15 billion in lost tariff revenue.
And now it is Scott Morrison’s turn.
The high income earner 2% levy on those earning in excess of $180,000 will be abolished as planned. This will cost the budget about $1 billion a year (and rising as incomes increase).
Increasing the middle income tax threshold from $80,000 to $87,000 will cost the budget about $4 billion over the forward estimates.
The ten year enterprise tax plan, reducing the company tax rate, decreases tax receipts by $9.2 billion over the forward estimates and significantly more beyond that.
The second part of the plan is to cut wasteful spending.
Spending on health, education and aged pensions is unsustainable and must be supplemented by user pays.
The public service will be wound down and offshored.
Wasteful spending on climate change, a real NBN, university degrees, the ABC, legal aid and research by the CSIRO will be pared back.
Essential spending on war toys, offshore processing centres, fossil fuel subsidies, uniforms and guns for Border Force public servants, media monitoring and political advertising, Royal Commissions into Labor and the Unions, plebiscites, private consultants’ modelling, and politicians’ entitlements will be quarantined from any cuts.
I guess it’s a plan.
It just isn’t a good one.
