At least the new Treasurer, Chris Bowen, is prepared to admit there are hurdles ahead for the Australian economy. This is a change from Wayne Swan who accused people of “talking the economy down” if they found themselves unable to ignore the damning results of this rampantly extended period of rent-seeking. No, we shouldn’t shut up about it, Wayne: it has to be stopped.
But I doubt the Rudd-Bowen combination has the fortitude to tackle rent-seeking head-on before the election, despite Australians earnestly seeking a political leadership that is guided by principle instead of opinion polls.
If the government wants to demonstrate it has a spine, the first thing it should do is to scrap Julia Gillard’s minerals resource rent tax (MRRT), designed in a back room deal with the big miners, and replace it with Kevin Rudd’s original resource super profit tax (RSPT). The MRRT is a shocker and yields nothing.
It would be a bold statement that Labor is prepared to address the real economic problems confronting Australia.
If it’s a difficult call for Labor, it would be an even more remarkable initiative for a new Liberal government under Tony Abbott.
It’s one policy for which the Greens should be admired.
You say we need more funds to tackle poverty, homelessness, health, the environment, education and infrastructure? I say instituting the Henry Tax Review is a BIG step towards solving those problems.
The government just introduced a deduction cap of $2000 for education and training expenses.
In my line of work, if you purchase a Swiss made (Leica) laser scanner for 500k it would probably cost up to $10k to be properly trained to use both equipment and software. You can now only claim $2000 as a deduction.
The only training you can get for 2k these days are the courses on how to get rich flipping property and how to negative gear.