Page 2345 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 12 August 2014
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What do households get for their additional 10 per cent in rates? Do they get a new bin? Do they get a hard-waste collection? Nothing. That is right—there is going to be a tram. Whatever wage increases people get Minister Barr has guaranteed he will claw back in increased taxes. Never mind that the cost of living will keep going up and that this family will end up further in the red and will not be able to continue paying for the basics of life. I remind the government that they are not the worst-off family in Canberra; they are a professional couple but they are on one income at the moment. There are families who are much worse off than them.
Will there be a flow-on effect? Will more families go into rentals? Will the rental market be squeezed with an 18 per cent increase in land tax? Will mum and dad investors sell up, leaving us with fewer rental properties? Will we see then an increase for demand in government housing? What is the plan for this from the government?
I know Minister Barr is big on government provision, but wage increases are not just about feeding government provision and Minister Barr’s addiction to increasing taxes. I appeal to the minister to open his eyes and spend some more time pondering the lot of good people—young couples, retirees and pensioners—stop the squeeze, be reasonable and stop the tax hikes that are hurting people who are working so hard for our future through their children.
MR WALL (Brindabella) (4.47): I rise to speak briefly about the impact that this budget is going to have not just on ACT families but also on the ACT business sector.
We have heard from Mrs Jones and my other colleagues about the impact increases to rates and land tax, changes to payroll tax charges and increases in utilities such as electricity, gas and water are having on the family household budget and the bottom line. When the disposable income of a family is diminished as a result of increased government taxes, charges and levies, the free income left for them to support the local business community is severely diminished. That impact flows on wide and far within our community and within our economy. When families stop supporting the local newsagent, the local butcher, the local florist or the local takeaway restaurant, those businesses are forced to make cuts themselves. Those cuts often result in the losses of more jobs in our community. Those job losses affect families with lesser income, and so the cycle continues. Businesses continue to struggle and suffer in this community.
The adage that if you are struggling to meet the increased cost of living in the ACT, you should join a union and get a wage increase is really cold comfort for someone that has put on the line their home and all their family assets—someone who has taken the risk to invest in this community and to employ people, and who often goes weeks on end without drawing an income themselves from a business, simply because they are more concerned about making sure that their staff and their suppliers are paid on time. Businesses that take these risks often run at very low profit margins. These business owners obviously take the risk and bear the brunt of a declining economy and a tightening economy, as we currently are experiencing here in the territory.
The job of the ACT government is to not only foster the businesses that we have existing here in the ACT but also develop and attract new investment. When it comes
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