When Tony Abbott launched his election campaign in 2013, he promised that “the motor industry will be saved from Mr Rudd’s $1.8 billion tax on company cars.”
His decision to not close a tax loophole that saw people being over-compensated for inflated business usage claims did nothing to save the car industry.
He also promised that repealing the carbon tax would “boost Australia’s economic growth, increase jobs and enhance Australia’s international competitiveness.”
In fact, all it did was increase our emissions for the first time in a decade and kill off investment in the renewable energy industry.
Tony also promised to “abolish the mining tax so investment and employment will go up.”
The exact opposite has happened with investment and employment in mining plummeting, and all workers worse off due to the abandonment of the scheduled increases to the Superannuation Guarantee. Families were also hit with the removal of the School Kids Bonus.
Then there was the promise that removing tariffs under free trade agreements would create jobs and growth through increased exports, particularly in agriculture.
However the Australian Farm Institute: Review of Agriculture Trade Performance 2016 found that the growth of Australia’s exports to every global region except Oceania and North Asia was slower than the equivalent global growth figure. Alarmingly, the report also finds that in addition to the volume of exports fall, so too has the value.
“The results highlight the need for Australian agricultural producers and exporters to dispel any complacency that might be held about the ability of Australian agriculture to automatically benefit from the growth in global demand for agricultural product as world populations increase and diets change.” — Australian Farm Institute: Review of Agriculture Trade Performance 2016.
These decisions have cost Australia tens of billions in revenue.
We have more people under/unemployed than ever. Wages are stagnant despite Abbott’s claim that he wanted “our workers to be the best paid in the world.”
Investment has dried up and we are facing the real possibility of a recession.
MYEFO saw a tax revenue write-down of $30.7 billion over the next four years.
Morrison claims the cumulative deficit will only blow out by $10.4 billion due to his “savings” which, in the main ($12.2 billion), are made up of lower than expected expenditure on childcare benefits, pension payments, and carers programs.
When claiming to have abolished “red tape worth $1 billion per year”, Abbott said the “the businesses of Australia should be competing, innovating, marketing, investing and employing, rather than simply lobbying government for more favourable rules or the best possible handout.”
But that is exactly what businesses are doing.
Having got rid of the FBT changes, the carbon tax, the mining tax, tariffs, red tape, and increases to the superannuation guarantee, the business groups in Australia are insisting that they want further tax cuts of 5% regardless of the fact that a great many of them pay less than 5% already, and they are insisting that penalty rates be abolished.
Never mind Scott. When that doesn’t work you can always spend a few billion more on defence.
