Public Health
Health before high-income tax cuts say voters
Australian voters say it is more important to maintain funding for services such as health and education than giving workers on high incomes a tax cut, according to a Guardian Essential poll.
A strong majority, 78 per cent, said maintaining government investments in health and education was more important than legislating a tax cut for workers on incomes of $200,000. Three-quarters of respondents said people earning more than $150,000 should pay a higher rate of tax than workers earning $40,000.
Voters under 34 were more likely to support the tax cuts than retirees. People on higher incomes were more supportive of the tax cuts that people on more modest incomes.
The ACTU says the government’s tax plan will “put cleaners, farm workers and shop assistants in the same tax bracket as senior executives” and will “slash government spending on infrastructure, aged care, pensions, hospitals, schools, scientific research, industry development, skills training and universities to make up for the lost revenue”.
ACTU Secretary Sally McManus slammed the government’s priorities. “The third stage of the tax cuts fundamentally changes the progressive nature of our tax system. It puts people on barely more than the minimum wage in the same tax bracket as people who are paid five times as much,” she said.
“Why should the office cleaner and the CEO be in the same tax bracket?”