Page 1217 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 30 May 2007
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Compare this now to the ACT government legacy. In the midst of massive increases in the amount of GST that is coming to the ACT—much, much more than would have been anticipated—we still saw over the last few years, in GFS terms, deficits from this government. We saw deficits in the 2006-07 budget of $80.3 million; in 2005-06, $162.3 million; and in 2004-05, $270 million. We have got one government that has been cutting taxes and delivering surplus after surplus and paying off debt, and we have another government that is not only delivering deficits and receiving more GST revenue—GST which Labor opposed; so they would like to give that extra revenue back because they do not support that tax—but also in the midst of that is delivering tax increases. There were massive increases in rates and taxes last year. We are going to continue to see big rises because it is linked to the wage price index.
We see taxes and charges going up exponentially under this government. We see school closures. We see the running down of infrastructure and cuts to public transport. We have simply not seen the benefits in the ACT from this government in terms of local government services and infrastructure that we should be seeing in the boom times, given the booming economy, given the financial management of the federal government and given the massive boom revenues that we are seeing as a result of the GST.
At the end of all that we see school closures and massive increases in taxes and charges. Those increases in taxes and charges under this government will continue, and will continue over and above inflation as a result of the policies put in place by this government. The reason they have done that is that they simply cannot control their spending. We see it in all areas. They cannot control their spending.
The Chief Minister always asks us to give examples. We constantly give them examples. We gave them examples when we saw the obscene waste of $4 million on the busway, which was never going to happen. We have seen millions in wasteful expenditure on marketing and advertising by the LDA. We have seen money for the arboretum in the midst of a drought. We saw the unexpected, in the eyes of the Chief Minister, blow-out in the number of public servants by 2,003. They are simply unable to control the management of the public service and simply unable to rein in expenditure.
To pay for a lot of this extra expenditure, we heard the Chief Minister tacitly acknowledging recently on ABC radio that this government has been fleecing first home buyers. He acknowledged that, and that is the absolute truth of it. They have been fleecing first home buyers. First home buyers’ tax burden is massive as a result of this government. It has propped up the LDA and has propped up the extra spending of this government because it has failed to rein in its spending. It has failed to make hay with the significant revenue that is coming into its coffers as a result of great economic times in this country and as a result of extra GST revenue.
The people of the ACT are suffering. We see them paying more taxes and charges but nowhere is it more keenly felt than by first home buyers who have to bear such a significant burden. We saw the property council some time ago estimating that up to a quarter of a house and land package goes in taxes and charges. A significant amount of that is propping up the LDA. A significant amount of that is at a local level, an ACT level.
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