Debt levy would have "token impact" - study

Wow. This is really compelling stuff. Such a clear illustration of what the poor will pay and what impact on them the budget will have, compared to somebody being charged the debt tax on high income and what impact it would have on them. 

The high income earners pay $400 in a year extra. But the single parent family pays $3,000 - $4,000 in a year, or 12% of their already meager income. How obscene. 

The NATSEM research found that the temporary 2 per cent income tax increase for the nation's top earners, to pay off the nation's debt, would have a "token impact". 

"If you're on $200,000 ... your impact would be around $400 per year, and that compares to a single-earner family ... who may be losing $3,000 to $4,000 per year by 2017-18, so [there is] a dramatic difference," Mr Phillips said. 

He has also pointed out that the Government's new $750 payment for single parents earning the maximum rate of Family Tax Benefit A will cut out completely when the household income hits $45,000. 

Researchers from the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University also found that those receiving government benefits do the budget "heavy lifting". 

According to the ANU projections, an unemployed single parent with an eight-year-old child will lose $54 a week or 12 per cent of their disposable income. 

Neither set of figures took into account the other major budget hits - the $7 fee on GP visits, X-rays and blood tests, the $5 fee for medicines, or the fuel excise hike. more