Wealthiest 20% receiving billions in tax concessions at expense of welfare recipients

A recent report by Anglicare Australia has found that the wealthiest 20% are receiving up to $68 billion dollars in tax exemptions, more than double than that received by those on disability support pensions per year.

The ‘Cost of Privilege’ report released last week found that in the 2016-17 budget the Turnbull Government spent $31.7 billion in assistance to people with disabilities, the equivalent of $17 per week. The Government spent $10.9 billion on Newstart payments. In contrast to that, tax exemptions on private healthcare and education for the wealthiest 20% cost over $3 billion a year, superannuation concessions cost over $20 billion a year, and Capital Gains Tax exemptions cost $40 billion a year to taxpayers.

These figures come against a backdrop of a legacy of ‘cracking down’ on recipients on the disability support pension after the rules were changed in 2012 for stricter impairment criteria, as well as a budget measure to review 90,000 recipients payments. Under the review disability pensioners are being targeted under a “risk assessment” however just 0.45% have been found to be ineligible in the past sixteen months of the review.

“This is a clear attack on the most vulnerable from the Government while they prop up tax concessions on the most wealthy in society. People on the disability support pension, or those who are seeking payments, are subject to invasive and demonising risk assessments by Centrelink – treated as though they are lying about their disability and told they are not sick enough to receive payments even with rafts of documentation”, said NUS Disabilities Officer Kayla Dickeson.

“Meanwhile, the wealthiest 20% receive more than double in tax concessions from the Government than that of people with disabilities receive on support payments. The Government needs to stop putting the burden on people with disabilities while acting like they are trying to ‘rort the system’, and fix Centrelink now so we can be treated with the respect that we deserve”.
Mark Pace National President | National Union of Students