goldkam wrote on Mar 19
th, 2019 at 6:37pm:
whiteknight wrote on Mar 19
th, 2019 at 6:14pm:
Well said Cassandra Goldie. Yes tax cuts are not the answer. The minimum wage needs to increase. People need a living wage. Newstart should be boosted. Its been far too long since the unemployed had a fair increase.
Tax Cuts should and can occur concurrently with wage rises...it is not a matter of one or the other. Tax Cuts are the answer to ensuring that every single person keeps more of the money that they earn. Labour are increasing taxes....Liberals are decreasing taxes.
Liberals are increasing privatised taxes. Privatisation for profit
always costs more than a not-for-profit government service.
As for taxes, a Liberal government last made a unilateral increase to the tax-free threshold in 1978. So much for the lie that the Liberals are for lower taxes. They aren't.
(The increase to the TFT in 2000 doesn't count because little Johnny was giving with one hand and taking via the GST with the other.)
goldkam wrote on Mar 19
th, 2019 at 6:37pm:
Minimum Wages need an increase but to to the point where it is a disincentive for businesses to employ and possible lay off people.
The money spent on increased wages doesn't leave the economy. It gets spent. Who benefits from this spending? Businesses.
Without productivity gains, wages are pareto efficient. The effect on overall spending is zero. Shifting money between pockets doesn't make more of it.
The proposal to lift the minimum wage by 6% isn't onerous. It is handing to low-paid workers some of the pay increases they should have gotten over the last 30 years but weren't given for various reasons. The difference between the minimum wage and the median wage has widened in that time and a 6% increase would go some way towards correcting this.
6% may not be a big deal overall but it will certainly displace the unskilled and youth worker in favour of more skilled workers. It is detrimental to these people and only helps the ones that haven't been marched. The only workable solution is to fix the cause of the problem rather than the effect.
goldkam wrote on Mar 19
th, 2019 at 6:37pm:
Welfare support (for those able to get a job) must not be the primary focus rather job opportunities and job training must. We cannot continue to live in a society where welfare contributions by the Government is increasing at a level it is. It increased from 117 billion in 2006 to 157 billion in 2016. Where is the line drawn?
I acknowledge some individual are unable to get a job for various reasons, but those who can should not becoming welfare dependent. I agree with Liberals when they state the best welfare is a job...not welfare dependency. It is through the appropriate training, assistance and support this can be occurring.
You're ignoring the elephant. The economy has had chronic high unemployment for over 40 years. Until the high unemployment is brought down to more sensible levels - in the 1% to 2% range - there will always be workers without jobs. Blaming the jobless for not having jobs is just blaming the victims for the misdeeds of others.
1 to 2%. You're on bi-polar drugs again.
Furthermore, the economy is constrained by excessive red tape, compliance, penalties and taxes that hinder labour mobility within Australia. Cutting this burdensome red tape and giving workers more freedom to relocate within Australia for work would do a lot to free up the Australian labour market.
And if the Liberals are so keen on Australians jobs, why did they sign so-called free trade agreements that gave a dozen countries the right to send workers to Australia without a single one of those countries giving reciprocal rights to Australian workers?