The Greens have called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to abandon his “centre-right” agenda and transform the Australian tax landscape to cover the aging population’s needs.
The Greens want to see the government implement what they say are “popular and progressive tax reforms,” which could potentially generate another trillion dollars to tackle intergenerational inequality.
Senator Nick McKim, the Greens Economic Justice spokesperson, said that Mr. Albanese shouldn’t be leaving a legacy of a housing market that’s completely cooked, a planet on fire, and skyrocketing wealth inequality.
“If Labor was serious about improving the lives of future generations, they’ve got almost a trillion dollars to make it happen. Labor just needs to find the courage to take on rich people and big corporations,” Senator McKim said.
“A tax and spend regime has been a critical part of progressive reforms across the world. By turning down this opportunity, Labor is abandoning future generations in hopes of becoming the default centre-right party.”
Greens leader Adam Bandt said Labor can’t complain about any future “pressures on the budget” while it is giving tax cuts to politicians and billionaires.
“Instead of refusing to fund services, Labor should axe the Stage 3 tax cuts for politicians and billionaires and make the big corporations pay their fair share of tax,” Mr. Bandt said.
“If Labor had the courage to enact these sensible reforms, the government would have almost a trillion dollars over the next decade to put dental and mental health into Medicare, build public homes, and rapidly accelerate the transition out of coal and gas into clean energy.”
The push from the Greens follows the release of the Intergenerational Report, which highlighted that Australia would face increasing pressures on the federal budget through government-run schemes like Medicare, the National Disability Scheme (NDIS) and Aged Care as the bulk of the population moved into their elder years.
Greens Want 6 New Changes
The Greens are calling on the prime minister to greenlight six new taxes, including a so-called Tycoon Tax, which would focus on corporate super profits which the party estimated in the May election in 2022 would generate $286.7 billion ($US 183.7 billion) in the period of 2022-23 to 2032-33.They also want a mining super profits tax, an end to the fossil fuel subsidy regime, changes to the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, ending the promised stage three tax cuts and winding down the capital gains tax/NG discounts. All of which they believe will generate $995 billion over the following decade.
The degree to which future generations are getting handed an increasingly fraught future—with a worsening outlook on inequality and climate.
Labor and Greens Continue Political Stoush
The push from the Greens continues the political party’s ongoing ideological dispute with the prime minister and the federal government over a range of issues, including tax reform and Labor’s key social housing policy, the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).The Greens have blocked HAFF legislation in the Senate, stating they will not allow it to pass the upper house without the bill being updated to include protections for renters.
Speaking on ABC Radio Breakfast on June 13, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the Greens were being very difficult on this issue.
“The truth is that the Federal Government has no control over rents, and so the Greens are being quite difficult here,” he said.
“It’s in the control of the state and territory governments, and there are eight of them, and each of them will determine their own policies. We want a renters’ rights accord at the federal level, but that basically requires the state and territory governments to come to an agreement on that.”
The prime minister explained that although he had secured a verbal agreement at the National Cabinet that the Premiers would talk about the rental situation, each of the eight different states and territories in Australia all had different policies on rental income and that it was not possible to just tick off the Greens’ policy idea.
“It seems to me that at this point, Greens are saying, ‘No, we don’t want $10 billion; we want more than that, so we’ll vote against the $10 billion.' That makes no sense,” he said.
“The truth is that this is a $10 billion fund that will boost housing supply for people in social and affordable housing. It will also boost supply for women and children escaping domestic violence, for veterans, for people in remote communities, and you can’t say that you support additional funding for housing and then reject a $10 billion fund that’s going to provide just that.”
