Paul Howes is focussing on his job at the AWU - by working out ways to pay less to pensioners
Wednesday, 05 February 2014
Free the old and their housing gold? Really Paul? Arbeit AWU-style Macht Frei?
The age pension is the single most expensive item in the federal budget at $36 billion a year, 9 per cent of all public expenditure.
And while it is asset-tested, that test does not apply to the principal residence. Instead, only a standard small amount is shaved off if you own your own home.
In effect that means some $18 billion – 4.5 per cent of the total budget – is being handed out each year to people who are worth over half a million dollars.
This is unsustainable and it is unfair. Welfare should only go to those who need it.
One’s principal residence is not hypothetical money. It is valued in Australian dollars. It is wealth, plain and simple.
By refusing to even consider acknowledging that wealth here is the deal the major parties are asking working Australians to swallow: We want you to pay significantly more tax so we can give it to retirees who are either well-off or, in many cases, actually millionaires.
For younger working Australians the deal’s even more insulting: We need to tax you to pay people who, thanks to home ownership, have the kind of wealth you may never attain, largely because you can’t afford a house. Oh, and even if you manage to snag one, and miraculously enjoy similar appreciation, you won’t get the same pension deal. Because, by then, some future government will have been forced to concede the whole situation is unsustainable.
You can read more about issues affecting AWU members at the AWU's website, where you'll find the rest of Paul's article.
If Australia's unions were not responsible for such craven rorting of taxpayer money Paul's savings measures might have a tad more credibility. But the thought of the AWU boss advocating that we take from pensioners to maintain rorts involving unions is sickening.
http://www.awu.net.au/opinions/free-old-and-their-housing-gold
The age pension is the single most expensive item in the federal budget at $36 billion a year, 9 per cent of all public expenditure.
And while it is asset-tested, that test does not apply to the principal residence. Instead, only a standard small amount is shaved off if you own your own home.
In effect that means some $18 billion – 4.5 per cent of the total budget – is being handed out each year to people who are worth over half a million dollars.
This is unsustainable and it is unfair. Welfare should only go to those who need it.
One’s principal residence is not hypothetical money. It is valued in Australian dollars. It is wealth, plain and simple.
By refusing to even consider acknowledging that wealth here is the deal the major parties are asking working Australians to swallow: We want you to pay significantly more tax so we can give it to retirees who are either well-off or, in many cases, actually millionaires.
For younger working Australians the deal’s even more insulting: We need to tax you to pay people who, thanks to home ownership, have the kind of wealth you may never attain, largely because you can’t afford a house. Oh, and even if you manage to snag one, and miraculously enjoy similar appreciation, you won’t get the same pension deal. Because, by then, some future government will have been forced to concede the whole situation is unsustainable.
- See more at: http://www.awu.net.au/opinions/free-old-and-their-housing-gold#sthash.TuDn4ACz.dpufThe age pension is the single most expensive item in the federal budget at $36 billion a year, 9 per cent of all public expenditure.
And while it is asset-tested, that test does not apply to the principal residence. Instead, only a standard small amount is shaved off if you own your own home.
In effect that means some $18 billion – 4.5 per cent of the total budget – is being handed out each year to people who are worth over half a million dollars.
This is unsustainable and it is unfair. Welfare should only go to those who need it.
One’s principal residence is not hypothetical money. It is valued in Australian dollars. It is wealth, plain and simple.
By refusing to even consider acknowledging that wealth here is the deal the major parties are asking working Australians to swallow: We want you to pay significantly more tax so we can give it to retirees who are either well-off or, in many cases, actually millionaires.
For younger working Australians the deal’s even more insulting: We need to tax you to pay people who, thanks to home ownership, have the kind of wealth you may never attain, largely because you can’t afford a house. Oh, and even if you manage to snag one, and miraculously enjoy similar appreciation, you won’t get the same pension deal. Because, by then, some future government will have been forced to concede the whole situation is unsustainable.
- See more at: http://www.awu.net.au/opinions/free-old-and-their-housing-gold#sthash.TuDn4ACz.dpuf