Greg Jericho: “The Labor party seems to have decided to shrink its policies to the very few things it believes are politically advantageous as it looks to the next election. In doing so it has thrown its support behind the most inequitable tax cuts in Australia’s history, effectively putting an end to progressive taxation in this country. Oh, the things you do when you want to win so badly that you have forgotten why exactly you want to win so badly. This week the ALP announced … it would now support the legislated stage three-tax cuts to come into force in 2024-25. … [T]he decision to support the stage-three tax cuts means the ALP now believes increasing inequality is a price it must pay if it wants to win government. What is the point of a progressive party if not to reduce inequality, you might ask. To be honest, at this point I don’t know. Essentially the stage-three tax cuts are about flattening the income tax rate to 30% for everyone earning between $45,000 and $200,000. Some eight years ago … I wrote of the superannuation debate at the time that it was clear to me that what it was really about was bringing in a flat income tax. What had once been the policy of libertarian cranks was then starting to be accepted in the Liberal party. And that battle was won on Monday with the ALP’s not untypical capitulation”.
28 July 2021