Page 2590 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 7 August 2013
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On the credit rating risk, the CIE report states:
The Net Worth to Revenue Ratio is expected to reduce over time to around 3.5 times revenue. This remains significantly above the minimum ratio required to maintain the AAA credit rating (292 per cent).
On the economic outlook for the ACT, the report says that the ACT economy has performed better than other “non-mining states” in 2012-13 and that a recovery in 2014-15 is foreseeable. So to say, as this motion does, that there is some lack of delivery and levels of deceit is simply a nonsense. I think the budget is a strong process. It is backed up by independent review and, of course, backed up by our very strong report when compared to the opposition members’ report. We will not be supporting Mr Smyth’s motion.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (11.02), in reply: I thank members opposite for, I guess, what is a predictable position. It is interesting when you start these debates. A very easy measure of the comfort level that the Treasurer is feeling is whether he can actually put a case or he just goes for personal attack. Straight out of the box, there was Mr Barr into the personal attack. You are the Treasurer. You have got all the officials to back you up. You should have all this studied. You should be able to put together a reasonable argument. But no, as per the script, Mr Barr went straight into the personal attack.
He has got his own personal mantra now that every credible economist is on his side. It must be hard to carry that burden. It must be hard to carry that burden of everybody on his shoulders.
Mr Barr interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Barr!
MR SMYTH: Everybody is on his shoulders. But I wonder if the credible economists have read Mr Barr’s documents against the promises he has made. According to Mr Barr, stamp duty is going. Yet in respect of the percentage of own source taxation that the government raises, conveyancing in 2013-14 represented 16.6 per cent; in 2014-15 it is 16.7 per cent; in 2015-16 it is 16.4 per cent; and 2016-17 it is 16.6 per cent. Conveyancing, as a percentage of the revenue, remains the same. He is not weaning himself off it at all.
Mr Barr interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
MR SMYTH: It is not weaning. The amount grows and the percentage stays the same. At the same time, I think Mr Rattenbury said, “We knew said rates were only going up five per cent.” Yet the budget documents, if you do the year on year, see the rates go up about 11 per cent per year. So rates go up, the take goes up, the percentage of conveyancing as a percentage of the total taxation of the government remains the
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