'Some of the greediest people': Dick Smith says rich should pay more tax

Entrepreneur Dick Smith says the rich should pay more tax.

Smith said when he was just 15 his dad told him about the importance of paying tax to fund the country, and it has stuck with him.

“The country needs money,” he told Ben Fordham on 2GB.

“It’s a fantastic country, it’s got incredible education, roads, and military, it needs money to pay for that.

“We’re in to great debt and we should be paying that debt off and not letting our kids have to do that in the future.”

Smith said the highest earners in the country could “easily afford” to pay more tax.

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“I’m in the one percent group that has the same amount of money as the 17 million Aussies who are typical wage earners and I’ve always said we can pay a bit more tax,” he said.

“Billionaires in this country are some of the greediest people out.

“They just complain constantly about the tax they have to pay when they can easily afford it.”

Smith said if needed the new rules can be adjusted by future governments.

It’s predicted they could affect one in ten Aussies by 2050 who would have $3m in super, more than the half a percent of people who would be hit now.

Smith says before he sold it his company was paying $1 million a year in tax.