Australian Labor Party leader vows to cut taxes for the rich
By
Mike Head
16 October 2018
In an interview with Rupert Murdoch’s Australian last weekend, opposition leader Bill Shorten pledged to extend income tax cuts to the wealthiest layers of society once a Labor government had eliminated the budget deficit.
“We would like to do more reform on personal income tax but the budget has to be sustainable,” he told the newspaper, in a front-page interview to mark his fifth anniversary as opposition leader since the landslide defeat of the previous Labor government in 2013.
It was the second such announcement in two days. Shorten and shadow treasurer Chris Bowen had called a media conference on Friday to say that Labor would back the Liberal-National Coalition government’s move to fast-track multi-billion dollar tax cuts for companies with annual turnovers of up to $50 million.
At an “Outlook Conference” hosted by the Australian last week Shorten also underscored his support for the wealthy. “Quite frankly, I don’t mind how rich anyone is. I don’t begrudge anyone their financial success,” he declared. At the same time, he warned that worsening social inequality was generating acute class tensions. “The number of people resentful about what they regard as unfairness in this country is a continuously growing number,” he told the gathering.
The Labor Party leaders, backed by the trade unions and assisted by the corporate media, are seeking big business support for the return of another Labor government.
Shorten’s promises were offered under conditions in which the corporate establishment is increasingly frustrated that the Coalition remains wracked by the divisions that led to the August 24 ousting of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who was replaced…