Polling shows tax cuts on nose

INCOME TAX CUTS THAT DISPROPORTIONATELY FAVOUR WEALTHIER AUSTRALIANS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE SAVED

THAN SPENT

AUSTRALIANS want money allocated for tax cuts redirected to infrastructure projects and income support, new polling has revealed.

With the Morrison government expected to fast track tax cuts worth up to $2565 a year for high income earners, voters were asked which economic support they favoured.

With one in 10 Australian workers expected to be unemployed by Christmas, 30 per cent of those polled wanted federal funds poured into income support programs such as JobKeeper for people looking for work.

Ahead of next month’s federal budget, a quarter of respondents said money should be spent on infrastructure projects to boost jobs. Only 20 per cent of those polled wanted tax cuts brought forward by 12 months, according to the polling by data company Dynata.

Although Australia is on track to record its largest budget deficit since the Second World War, just 12 per cent of those polled wanted the government to start repaying its debt according to the survey by progressive think tank The

AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE’S BEN OQUIST

Australia Institute executive director Ben Oquist said Australians consider supporting out-of-work Australians and investing in infrastructure to be more important than cutting taxes in the current climate.

“There is mounting evidence that income tax cuts that disproportionately favour wealthier Australians are more likely to be saved than spent, rendering their economic stimulatory impact minimal,” Mr Oquist said.

“Not only would tax cuts miss the mark when it comes to economic stimulus, we now see that they aren’t even broadly supported as a priority by Australian voters.”

In the Territory, Darwin city and Coolalinga are among the suburbs that have been hardest hit financially by the coronavirus pandemic.