Tony Abbott facing internal dissent over 'crazy' debt levy proposal - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Prime Minister Tony Abbott is facing dissent from within his own party over a proposal to introduce a debt levy, with one MP saying it would be "absolutely crazy" and amount to a broken election promise. Mr Abbott says the Government is "mulling over" a range of ideas, but has confirmed he is considering a temporary levy to help repay the nation's debt. "There's been speculation, as you know, about a deficit reduction levy," the Prime Minister told Fairfax Radio. "Certainly it is my intention that people like myself, high-income earners, should bear a significant quantum of the burden when it comes to sorting out our problems. "We do have a short-term problem and we do need to deal with it. "Do I say that no charges will rise? No, I don't." There are reports the deficit levy would kick in for people earning $80,000 per year, with workers on that salary paying up to $800 per year in extra tax. The Prime Minister would not confirm specific details and later stressed that no final decisions had been made. And he denied a deficit levy would be a breach of his repeated promises before the election not to introduce new taxes.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-29/tony-abbott-says-debt-levy-would-not-break-pre-election-promise/5417510[/url]

Tony Abbott breaking promises? Never.

I like how the one, somewhat decent policy that Abbott puts forward, which allows the financial burden to fall more heavily on higher income earners, is the one fucking policy that his own party gets upset at. Politicians wanting everyone else to pick up the tab while they get to line their pockets with money? Big fucking surprise there!

Oh no, our outrageous debt is spiraling out of control, WHATEVER WILL WE DO!? [t]http://i.imgur.com/76sZ8rH.jpg[/t] [t]http://www.glennmurray.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ScreenHunter_115-Apr.-22-16.36.jpg[/t]

As much as I hate Abbott I suspect a small tax dedicated to paying off our national debts may be a good thing. [QUOTE=WaLLy3K;44674386]Oh no, our outrageous debt is spiraling out of control, WHATEVER WILL WE DO!? [t]http://i.imgur.com/76sZ8rH.jpg[/t] [t]http://www.glennmurray.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ScreenHunter_115-Apr.-22-16.36.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Or maybe not

[QUOTE=download;44674390]As much as I hate Abbott I suspect a small tax dedicated to paying off our national debts may be a good thing.[/QUOTE] Taxing the rich to help make our debt lower is a fantastic thing that I would never ever have expected the Liberals to do, but the so called "crisis" is an utter farce.

There was something about him increasing the age to get a Pension which is retarded because I don't expect people doing high labour jobs like builders or miners to be working in their 60's onwards

His idea isn't bad at all, a temporary tax aimed only at high earners, but it's bad on principle because it stands against what the Liberal party is for, and it stands against his own pre-election promises. But there's also the thing where the Coalition is blowing this 'budget emergency' way out of proportion. From what we've heard so far, Hockey's upcoming budget will more than likely be full-on austerity ala Greece when we really do not have an emergency in the slightest. [editline]29th April 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=WaLLy3K;44674386]Oh no, our outrageous debt is spiraling out of control, WHATEVER WILL WE DO!? [t]http://i.imgur.com/76sZ8rH.jpg[/t] [t]http://www.glennmurray.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ScreenHunter_115-Apr.-22-16.36.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] I will say that we do not have a 'budget emergency', but that chart is clearly outdated. 2009 was five years ago, and the Labor governments of 2007-2013 had to run at a deficit to counter the effects of the GFC (thankfully). The GFC only started in 2008. [editline]29th April 2014[/editline] OECD average is a terrible measure to use as comparison anyways. The median would be a better figure to compare against; just look at the outlier that is Japan, which would skew the average somewhat.

I'm conflicted, I like the idea of taxing higher income earners, but I think the reasoning behind the tax is bunk. The carbon tax was a "no go", but taxing people for a made up budget issue is ok. [QUOTE=Antdawg;44674491]... I will say that we do not have a 'budget emergency', but that chart is clearly outdated. 2009 was five years ago, and the Labor governments of 2007-2013 had to run at a deficit to counter the effects of the GFC (thankfully). The GFC only started in 2008.[/QUOTE] Our GDP for 2013 was $1.5 trillion, our total debt as of Feb 2014 was $300 billion.

[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;44674543]Our GDP for 2013 was $1.5 trillion, our total debt as of Feb 2014 was $300 billion.[/QUOTE] That puts us all the way up at 20% (pretty far from the latest figure of ~9% from that chart when we are talking about billions of dollars). That isn't bad at all, but the point is that you can't go throwing charts around, using them as facts for the current situation when they have data that is five years old.

If you would like a lovely insight into this debate, watch the first half of last nights Q&A.. [URL]http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3975151.htm[/URL] Audience: ALP 36%, Coalition 47%, Greens 11%, Other 2%, Not Specified 4%

The hashtag #libspill is trending on twitter because of this. Just a bunch of anti-liberals trying to make a stir :v:

To me, this feels like an extreme measure that won't be enacted but take away flak from the rest of their inane policies. A diversionary measure of sorts. I really fucking hate how each government runs the country. It's like the complete opposite when each party is in power. Spend spend spend with the labour government, cut cut cut with the liberals. If we had a party who was pragmatic and not totally insane maybe I'd actually give a fuck next time I vote

Abbott is a twat but this sounds like a good idea. $800 a [i]year[/i] is fuck all, especially to someone earning that much.

[QUOTE=Antdawg;44674491] I will say that we do not have a 'budget emergency', but that chart is clearly outdated. 2009 was five years ago, and the Labor governments of 2007-2013 had to run at a deficit to counter the effects of the GFC (thankfully). The GFC only started in 2008. [editline]29th April 2014[/editline] OECD average is a terrible measure to use as comparison anyways. The median would be a better figure to compare against; just look at the outlier that is Japan, which would skew the average somewhat.[/QUOTE] This one is definitely outdated, I remember reading Estonia paid off all of its debt.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/m4t8CZZ.jpg[/img] To be fair this doesn't cover any mentioned on the billboard, but boy has he been backtracking some of his other promises.

[QUOTE=jjjohan;44675150][img]http://i.imgur.com/m4t8CZZ.jpg[/img] To be fair this doesn't cover any mentioned on the billboard, but boy has he been backtracking some of his other promises.[/QUOTE] except he is talking about cutting ABC too

[QUOTE=jjjohan;44675150][img]http://i.imgur.com/m4t8CZZ.jpg[/img] To be fair this doesn't cover any mentioned on the billboard, but boy has he been backtracking some of his other promises.[/QUOTE] Backtracking such as mentioning and hinting the fact he wants to slice a few million dollars from the ABC for speaking the truth

[QUOTE=WaLLy3K;44674386]Oh no, our outrageous debt is spiraling out of control, WHATEVER WILL WE DO!? [t]http://i.imgur.com/76sZ8rH.jpg[/t] [t]http://www.glennmurray.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ScreenHunter_115-Apr.-22-16.36.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Can I know where is this data from? [editline]29th April 2014[/editline] It's quite pretty graphs, I wonder if there's more where that came from.

Why are both parties obsessed with surplus? Having a budget surplus is not necessarily a good or amazing thing to have, and is not a symbol of the strength of the economy. Anyway, I bet any tax rises or cuts by the Liberal party will be blamed on Labor with the justification that 'they are fixing the budget they inherited'. Take some responsibility for your own actions god-dammit, bitching about the opposition seems to be a primary goal for this government, it would seem.

[QUOTE=WaLLy3K;44674386]Oh no, our outrageous debt is spiraling out of control, WHATEVER WILL WE DO!? [t]http://i.imgur.com/76sZ8rH.jpg[/t] [t]http://www.glennmurray.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ScreenHunter_115-Apr.-22-16.36.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Is Japan in that much debt? Why?

[QUOTE=Sniping Robot;44675447]Why are both parties obsessed with surplus? Having a budget surplus is not necessarily a good or amazing thing to have, and is not a symbol of the strength of the economy. Anyway, I bet any tax rises or cuts by the Liberal party will be blamed on Labor with the justification that 'they are fixing the budget they inherited'. Take some responsibility for your own actions god-dammit, bitching about the opposition seems to be a primary goal for this government, it would seem.[/QUOTE] You're right. Government surpluses aren't necessarily amazing things, and many economists will argue that deficits are necessary during economic downturns. But the GFC is over and there isn't that much of a need to be in deficit. The problem with the Coalition's policy of getting back to surplus is that they want to do it as fast as possible, probably so that Abbott can claim being the Prime Minister 'who returned Australia ('s government) to surplus'. The thing with the government being in deficit is that the economy is in surplus, and when the government is in surplus the economy is in deficit (more tax revenue coming in than government expenditure). If the Coalition attempts to reach a surplus rapidly, they will rapidly place the economy in deficit and could potentially cause the economy to contract. Austerity is never a good idea. Going back to surplus should take time. [editline]30th April 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=booster;44675985]Is Japan in that much debt? Why?[/QUOTE] I don't know how accurate that figure is, but re-building after the Second World War and subsequent modernisation are probably massive factors.