Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) in a February 2017 speech, 'Progressive politics in the age of Trump', NSW Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Mr Tim Ayers, who is also a member of the ALP's National Executive, supported the introduction of an inheritance tax,

  (ii) in an address to the National Press Club on 15 March 2017, the Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Richard Di Natale, stated "And speaking of levelling the playing field, if we are going to avoid turning this intergenerational divide into a chasm, it is time we had a debate around inheritance taxes for the super wealthy. Australia is one of the countries who does not tax pre-existing wealth',

  (iii) in an article in New Matilda on 7 March 2006, Labor's Shadow Assistant Treasurer, MrAndrew Leigh, wrote an article entitled, Bring Back the Inheritance Tax, in which he stated "From a pure economic rationalist perspective ... what is often not recognised is that inheritance taxes are also an efficient form of revenue raising", and

  (iv) farming families are especially disadvantaged by an inheritance tax, with much of the wealth of their farms tied up in land – this means that when heirs do have to pay inheritance taxes, there is often a need to sell-off land (or other assets to pay off the death tax; and

(b) rejects any introduction of an inheritance tax, which only serves to punish the hard work, risk-taking and success of families and individuals who have built small businesses and family farms.