Image: Bill Shorten faces bitter Victorian branch dispute
By Andrew Bolt ~
Australian Leader Of The Opposition Bill Shorten (Australian Labor Party)
Here in Australia, the spend-big Labor Party is saying it needs even more cash than the current record tax take for what it has in mind:
Former Treasurer Peter Costello has warned that millions of retirees and pensioners will be hit by Bill Shorten’s plan to axe tax refunds on share investments which has opened up a new political battlefield with the Coalition.
More than 230,000 pensioners will be impacted by Mr Shorten’s move to abolish dividend imputation refunds — cash for tax credits — received by shareholders and super funds, with internal government figures showing more than half of those who receive a credit refund have a taxable income below the tax-free threshold of $18,200.
UPDATE
Even Labor shadow treasurer Chris Bowen admits a hell of a lot of pensioners will be affected:
“When you’re looking at the number of complete pensioners who might have any impact at all, you’re looking at about 10 per cent of part-pensioners and at most 1 per cent of full pensioners,” Mr Bowen said.
Asked how many people that meant, he said: “Around 200,000 for part-pensioners and about 14,000 for full pensioners.”
This will cost the Labor Party.
