Sunrise host Natalie Barr has questioned why the Federal Government is spending $40million to sellthe reworked stage three tax cuts to the Australian people.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese modified the tax cuts to benefit everyone, rather than just high income earners, despite promising not to change the plan legislated by the Coalition in 2019.
Before the changes, an individual earning $200,000 a year would have received a tax refund of $9,075. Now they will now receive $3,375 instead.
Similarly, under the previous tax plan, someone earning $60,000 would have received a refund of $375. After the change, they will be getting $1,179 instead.
Mr Albanese faced intense scrutiny following the announcement on January 25, with Opposition leader Peter Dutton describing him as the ‘liar in the Lodge’.
Now it has been confirmed by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher that $40million will be spent over two financial years for an advertising campaign explaining the Stage 3 tax cuts.
Barr was joined by 3AW radio presenter Neil Mitchell and director of Western Sydney Women, Amanda Rose, where they discussed why the government was spending so much, just to tell Australians what they already know.
Nat Barr was joined by Neil Mitchell and media commentator Amanda Rose on Thursday morning to discuss the government’s $40million campaign to sell the reworked stage three tax cuts
‘Why do we need someone to sell us the tax cuts we’re just going to get in our tax?’ Barr said on Thursday morning.
Mitchell said the amount of money going towards the move, which Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said was a ‘public information campaign’, was ‘rubbish’.
‘Just what we need, more spin, and I bet coincidently all these ads appear just before the election,’ he said.
Ms Rose agreed and said it was ‘absurd’.
‘Remember the government said ”everyone wants this, everyone needs this, this has been supported”, so why do you need to spend $40million to convince people that you’ve said they’re already convinced it needed to happen?’ she said.
‘It is absurd to spend our hard-earned money for them to look better over a backflip and a lie.
‘How about they spend their own money doing it?’
Mitchell said the move was purely to ‘win an election’.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese modified the tax cuts to benefit everyone, rather than just high income earners, despite promising to keep the cuts as they were legislated in 2019
Ms Gallagher had revealed the $40million campaign during Senates estimates on Wednesday afternoon, describing it as ‘pretty routine’.
‘We have a responsibility to ensure that there is accurate information about the changes that will come into effect on the first of July,’ she said.
The funding has been allocated for the next two financial years.
It comes after Mr Dutton confirmed he would not stand in the way of Mr Albanese’s reworked tax cuts, despite heavily criticising the PM over his broken promise.
‘We’re supporting this change, not to support the Prime Minister’s lie but to support those families who need help now because Labor has made decisions that have made it much harder for those families,’ he said.
‘We will take to the next election a significant tax policy which will reduce taxes for the Australian taxpayers because we know that there is going to be a lot of support needed to help Australian families recover from this period of Labor.’
What Mr Dutton’s tax policy might look like won’t be revealed until closer to the next election.
