NOW that the Federal Government’s three day “Productivity Summit” is over, many of us are still trying to work out what it was all about.
The three areas that the conveners required to be discussed were productivity, economic growth and tax reform.
The current housing supply dominated most of one day’s debates but from what has been released by those who knew someone at the talk fest, productivity hardly received a mention.
However, tax reform was what the Treasurer wanted as its main focus, even though the Prime Minister said that there will not be any new tax ideas considered in this term of parliament.
That’s interesting.
The Treasurer must have his own ideas about what he wants from tax reform; probably a lot more money coming to the government so that they can more easily cover the debt that it has borrowed.
It was recently stated that the interest bill on government borrowings is now A$5 million per day.
So, who has that kind of hay in storage and how can the government collect it efficiently so that spending can be covered?
It becomes much clearer when the Treasurer continues to verbally attack what he calls “intergenerational inconsistencies”.
In other words, the older hard-working and retired group in our economy, who have been saving their money and investing it for some tens of years, will clearly be targeted.
As one observer reported, it looks like the government is attempting to fund its promised tax reductions by taking from the retired community whose super funds from lifelong savings have now topped some $4 trillion dollars.
The three-day obsession was limited to 26 specially invited people who each apparently detailed what they wanted, no doubt to the advantage of their industry, rather than offering opinion on the productivity question.
With new housing initiatives and childcare activities being the immediate reactions from this meeting, retirees must now hold their breath and wait for what the government proposes to do with their superfund accounts.
By John BLACKBOURN
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