House debates
Monday, 8 February 2016
Questions without Notice
Goods and Services Tax
2:13 pm
Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source
The government will always do what is right, and what I was saying in that interview is that the government would determine what was right and that we would get about it. I can tell you what is not right, and that is the tax-and-spend approach of those opposite. That is what is not right for jobs and growth in this country. What I know of those opposite is they seem to confuse spending and taxes. They seem to confuse savings measures and tax measures. The member for Fraser said very recently, 'We've put on the table around $70 billion of savings over the course of the next decade.' But they are not savings; they are actually tax increases.
Dr Leigh interjecting—
Tibor Majlath
Posted on 18 Feb 2016 9:28 am
Right for whom? What is the function of the tax system if not to tax and spend on national infrastructure, social programs, health and education for the common wealth? Surely, the tax system adapts to national and global economic circumstances in good and bad times. Perhaps it's function is only to blindly chase the 'magic' surplus, no matter what!
If Labor confuses spending and taxes then the Coalition confuses spending cuts and tax cuts. Cutting spending in one area to pay for tax cuts is still spending. Further tax cuts will just add to the spending binge.
How quickly we forget that the nation is still paying/spending for massive tax cuts doled out by the LNP under PM John Howard during 2003-2008 even though much of the revenue from the resources boom and China's growth has virtually evaporated.
Spending by both sides of politics is the problem. This is why the nation has a revenue problem and is in so much trouble.