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Corporate serving Oz Treasurer to target Vulnerable in May Budget
by sid Wednesday, Apr 23 2014, 5:27am
international / prose / post

Budgets should be simple, those that benefit most from Oz should return most to Oz; for private transnational corporations that run with their profits offshore to avoid their tax responsibility it should translate into large penalties or heavy tax burdens.

However, treasurer Joe Hockey is targeting vulnerable pensioners and not sharing the REAL burden with tax avoiding corporations -- it appears that the treasurer is just another stinking corporate lackey puppet! The Oz population should shove one those billion dollar (72 ordered) F-35 lemon fighter jets down Hockey's LYING, treasonous, throat -- and to think, what a nice guy brother Charles Hockey is!

Joe Hockey, disingenuous

From the Australian:

Treasurer Joe Hockey outlines areas facing cuts in May 13 budget
by David Crowe

JOE Hockey has stepped up his argument for urgent cuts to major spending programs in the May 13 federal budget, declaring that all Australians will carry the burden of reform.

Revealing key findings from the Commission of Audit into federal finances, the Treasurer has warned that deep cuts will be essential to balance the budget.

Mr Hockey used a speech in Sydney tonight to outline some of the audit findings as well as his ambition to scale back the deficit and post a surplus by at least 2024.

Pain looms in Hockey's first budget

Seeking to manage expectations when he releases the four-volume Commission of Audit report next week, Mr Hockey said some of the 86 recommendations would be rejected outright and others given “further consideration” over time.

The report would be a “useful framework” rather than a “quick fix” to be adopted in full, the Treasurer said.

“There will be difficult decisions, but all Australians must help to do the heavy lifting,” Mr Hockey told a forum hosted by The Spectator magazine in Sydney.

“It will not be acceptable for a few to make the major sacrifices on behalf of the rest of us.

“The fiscal consolidation program that we reveal in the budget will establish a clear path back to a surplus of 1 per cent of GDP by 2024.

“But I want to emphasise that the May budget will not be the end of our efforts, it will only be the start.

“There will be numerous cases where our policy principles can only be implemented over time. Not every decision crucial for budget repair will be made on budget night. However, we will make a significant start.”

One key finding in the Commission of Audit is the scale of government spending, which has risen over 40 years from around $6000 per person to over $15,000 per person when adjusted for inflation, Mr Hockey said.

Mr Hockey said the Commission of Audit report would be released on May 1.

The Treasurer argued for major spending cuts on the basis that outlays will spiral out of control without hard action now.

On current trends, assuming no cap on spending, outlays will swell to 26.5 per cent of GDP by 2024.

Much of this would come from the 15 largest spending programs, which are also the fastest growing.

These include the age pension, the disability support pension, the pharmaceutical benefits scheme, aged care, education, hospitals, foreign aid and the national disability insurance scheme.

“To put it simply – our biggest costs are also our fastest growing,” Mr Hockey said.

Tax receipts will not grow fast enough to make up for spending burden, according to a “business as usual” scenario that forecasts big deficits in every year to 2024 and possibly beyond.

“It is a recipe for disaster to never even get to surplus despite having a foundation of 32 years of continuous economic growth, which would arguably be the longest continuous period of growth anywhere in the world since the Second World War,” Mr Hockey said.

The Treasurer’s message came with new figures on the likely load on taxpayers who will gradually move into higher tax brackets as inflation increases their salaries but the government is unable to afford any tax cuts.

An extra 3 million taxpayers will have taxable income above the $80,000 threshold in ten years from now according to the audit commission scenario, lifting their marginal tax rates from 37 to 45 cents in the dollar.

Turning his sights on individual spending programs, the Treasurer named the age pension and aged care as key concerns as the population grows older and young workers have to bear the burden of large welfare programs.

Mr Hockey appeared to question the value of the tax concessions offered to superannuation – worth more than $30bn last year – by noting that most retirees fall back on the pension anyway.

“Despite spending billions of dollars in taxation benefits for superannuation, by 2050 the ratio of Australians receiving a full or part pension will still be around four out of five,” he said.

“On top of this, aged care is now the eighth largest category of spending. We spend more on aged care than we do on higher education or child care.

“And the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is the tenth largest category of spending. Nearly 80 per cent of the Scheme’s expenditure is attributable to concessional recipients.”

Mr Hockey made it clear each of these would be tackled in the budget because of the looming impact of the ageing population.

“So the policies must be changed, either now or more dramatically in the future.”

© 2014 News Limited

Duplicitous Joe

http://tinyurl.com/ny5ezgl