Jim Chalmers wants a more sophisticated conversation about budget pressures but his habit of thinking out loud about options is making a lot of people nervous - and delighting the Liberals.
As he belatedly ruled out any change to capital gains tax on the family home, a frustrated-sounding Jim Chalmers said Australia should be capable of “a more sophisticated conversation about our budget pressures”.
Chalmers’ rationale for his initial reluctance to be equally clear is his determination to avoid the endless media game of ruling things in or out, particularly before the budget.That’s understandable in general, if not in this instance. Much of the frenzied gotcha media coverage does ignore many of the policy nuances involved.
Nine months into government, more Australians want to know just what Labor is doing to help them as they battle high inflation and interest rates. Answering that is a lot harder.of 0.5 per cent in the December quarter are further evidence it will only get harder for more people this year. Even if inflation seems to have peaked, interest rates clearly have not, and rents are also soaring dramatically. The household savings ratio is now down to 4.5 per cent, lower than it was pre-COVID.
These contradictions were again obvious this week when the government released Treasury’s annual statement detailing the supposed cost of various tax concessions – including the family home – coinciding with the announcement of its “modest” superannuation reform. So if the government intends to do no more on super, why keep publicly flirting with the notion the size of super tax concessions means they are also unreasonable or unsustainable because they largely benefit higher income earners?The big business community had certainly lost patience with the Morrison government – a mutual disregard – and remains hopeful this government will be more disciplined about economic reform and productivity.
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