What Watt says you’ll get from tax ‘rewrite’
We still don’t know what Peter Dutton’s position is
Gold Coast-based Labor Senator Murray Watt has “completely rejected” suggestions Australians have lost faith in the Albanese Government after Stage 3 tax cut alterations.
It comes after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has claimed the tax cut rewrite had “completely and utterly destroyed” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s credibility with Australians.
But Senator Watt, when asked on the Gold Coast on Thursday about Mr Albanese’s rewrite of stage three tax cuts, said it showed Australians could trust the government to deliver cost-of-living relief: “I completely reject what Peter Dutton is saying.
“What this decision shows is Gold Coasters and all Australians can trust the Albanese government to deliver cost-ofliving relief to middle Australia.”
Up to 89 per cent of Gold Coast residents are expected to save under the revised tax cuts, Senator Watt said.
“We still don’t know what Peter Dutton’s position is on these tax cuts,” he added. “Is he seriously going to roll them back, which would mean taking money off low-and-middle income earners on the Gold
Coast to distribute to very high income earners?”
Mr Watt, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, added: “The question for Peter Dutton, is whether he’s going to make those 89 per cent of people worse off?”
Senator Watt said global factors like the Covid pandemic, war in Ukraine and impacts to global supply chains had significantly worsened cost of living in Australia since the Stage 3 tax cuts were first introduced.
However he maintained “every single taxpayer” will continue to receive a tax cut.
“Australians are crying out for more cost-of-living relief and that’s what these tax cuts will provide,” he said.
“Here on the Gold Coast the average Gold Coast worker will be over $1500 better off under Anthony Albanese’s plan than they would have been under Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton’s plan.”
A nurse on the Gold Coast earning $76,000 will get a tax cut of nearly $1600. A teacher on the Gold Coast earning $80,000 a year will get nearly $1700 more in their pocket each year and a police officer or tourism operator earning $110,000 will be getting a tax cut of more than $2400.”
In Fadden, 90,000 people will get a tax break averaging $1437 while 86,000 in Forde will average a $1352 tax break.
About 79,000 residents in McPherson and 88,000 in Moncrieff will see an average tax break of $1438, while 80,000 people in Wright can expect an average tax break of $1389.
Mr Albanese challenged Mr Dutton to suggest an alternative tax plan. Mr Dutton has so far refused to commit to a position on the tax cuts, but said this week he’d reveal the Coalition’s stance in due course.
“There’s been no criticism of any substance of our package by either the Coalition who’ve engaged in personal abuse,” Mr Albanese said.
Mr Dutton criticised Mr Albanese’s comments as “predictable” and claimed his tax cuts package was an “attack on aspiration”. “It’s pitching one Australian against the other and I don’t think it has any place here,” he told 2GB.