Page 3939 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 9 November 1994
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Taxation - Liberal Party Policy
MS ELLIS: Madam Speaker, I direct my question to the Chief Minister, in her role as Treasurer. Having heard a very interesting media report this morning, I ask: Will the Government adopt the Liberal proposal to introduce an ACT income tax?
MS FOLLETT: I thank Ms Ellis for the question. I was absolutely amazed - - -
Members interjected.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! It would be helpful if we could hear the answers.
MS FOLLETT: I have no doubt that Mr Kaine is very embarrassed by this, Madam Speaker, and probably as amazed as I was to hear Mrs Carnell announce on the radio this morning that, if she were elected to government, she would be introducing an additional income tax after the next election. In the radio interview, what Mrs Carnell actually said was that rates should not be based only on where you live, but also on your ability to pay. Madam Speaker, I am not aware of any method of finding out people's ability to pay - - -
Opposition members interjected.
Mrs Grassby: On a point of order, Madam Speaker: I would like to hear the Chief Minister's answer.
MADAM SPEAKER: Members of the Opposition will come to order.
MS FOLLETT: I can understand their discomfort, Madam Speaker. It was one of the silliest statements that I have ever heard in a succession of silly statements by the Leader of the Opposition. There is no doubt in my mind that, if the rates were to be based on people's incomes, it would be simply a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
Madam Speaker, it is abundantly clear to anybody who has a mind to think about issues, rather than just dealing with them off the top of their head in the way that Mrs Carnell does, that the people with the greatest capacity to pay also have the greatest capacity to arrange their affairs, quite legally, quite legitimately, to minimise their income, so that a very small income is reflected. All you need is an accountant. Under Mrs Carnell's proposal, her groundbreaking ACT income tax, it would be all the PAYE taxpayers, the people on wages and salaries, who would, of course, be bearing the brunt of the new rates regime. The rest of the Territory - other than those wealthy people who are able to arrange their affairs to reflect a low income - would, therefore, have to pay more; even those people that Mrs Carnell purports to have an interest in helping, and that is the people who are having difficulty in paying their rates. It is quite clear that Mrs Carnell has not understood the repercussions of the policy that she has put forward. Perhaps she has done it just off the top of her head, which she did admit. I will say that, Madam Speaker; she made it plain that it was just off the top of her head.
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