You'd think a politician of his experience would know to be more careful. Joe was saying that higher income earning families pay half their income in tax, which means he's ignoring how they get the benefit of the tax free threshold and lower tax rate on the first part of their income.
More substantially, Peter Whiteford has a really good article that looks at the way the "small government/small tax" wing of the Right tries to use what are in fact successful elements of our welfare system to exaggerate welfare as a problem. More importantly, he notes that:
"what constitutes a “fair” distribution of national income ultimately comesThe essay is in effect a really valuable look at the poisonous "lifters and leaners/moochers and looters" philosophy that the Coalition - including Hockey - has been infected with from too much contact with the American small government/libertarian wing of the Republicans (and their Australian counterparts in the IPA.)
down to social value judgements."
This is very strange as Hockey has easily the best department helping him and his staff are quite good yet he constantly comes up with this sot of guff.
ReplyDeleteNot only has this govt further alienated itself from those who didn't vote for them they are now alienating themselves from those who liked their small govt ideology.
ReplyDeleteThey are in trouble and they know it. They would be in a lot more trouble if the ALP got its act together and started producing a viable alternative policy set.
Yes, it is about values. The claim that people earned and deserved their wealth completely ignores the fact that our morals are not determined by the dictates of the free market.
Sorry, he's a cockhead. Has no idea of the real world.
ReplyDelete