2017-05-12
Greens Treasury Spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, has called upon Labor to stop fiddling at the edges with top-end tax rorts and adopt a proper Buffett rule to get serious about addressing inequality.
Senator Whish-Wilson said, “What Labor proposed last night was the version of the Buffett Rule you adopt when Chris Bowen won’t let you have a Buffett Rule. A proper Buffett Rule would raise nearly $39 billion over the medium term, not a measly $1.3 billion.
“Bill Shorten is right when he said 'loopholes for millionaires mean middle Australia pays more', and that is why we need to slam all of the loopholes shut.
“There are countless avenues for deductions for millionaires and if you cut off their ability to use accountancy fees as a one of those deductions then they will simply find another way. This is why you need to set a cap on the total deductions the top 1% of income earners can claim.
“Labor’s Buffett-lite raises less than 4% of what closing all the loopholes would do. We need to stop fiddling at the edges and fix things properly.
“Unlike Labor, the Greens don’t want to soften trickle-down economics, we want to upend it. While we hear Wayne Swan talk about serious solutions to address inequality, all we get from Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen is window dressing,” he concluded.