Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart has proposed how the government should support Australians struggling with the cost of living crisis and tackle the housing crisis.
Ms Rinehart has previously targeted the $300 electricity rebate announced by the Labor government in the budget, which will not be means-tested and will be given to all households regardless of their wealth.
He said instead of taxing Australians only to pay them back, some taxes should be reduced in the first place.
“I have strongly advocated for the government to directly reduce the living costs of Australians by reducing its fuel excise duty, which would extend not only to car users, but to all products that require transportation,” he told news.com.au.
“I have also advocated cutting other taxes, payroll tax, stamp duty and license fees, which would not only reduce the cost of living but were supposed to have been reduced when the GST was introduced decades ago.” .
Gina Rinehart is Australia’s richest person with a fortune of $37 billion through her mining empire
Rinehart said reducing the fuel tax would be better than collecting and redistributing the additional tax, as in Anthony Albanese’s (pictured with Jodie Haydon) $300 electricity rebate.
Rinehart said cutting taxes would be more efficient — and better distributed to those who need it most — than “recycling” taxes by collecting them and redistributing them to be used for a specific purpose, such as electricity rebates.
The mining magnate said some vulnerable groups, such as retirees, veterans and students, faced very high levels of tax if they worked above the hours threshold set by the government.
He said letting Australians “who want to work” work would be a much better option than increasing immigration to increase worker levels.
Ms Rinehart backed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s plan to tackle the housing crisis.
“This huge increase in immigration not only increases housing and rental costs, and increases hospital burdens and treatment delays, and more traffic on the roads, but, according to the IPA, has also meant an increase of 40,000 workers of a million immigrants, which puts a greater burden and expense on social assistance,” he said.
Dutton wants Australia to reduce its permanent migration intake by 25 per cent if the coalition wins the next election, arguing the cut would improve housing affordability and supply in the market.
Under the plan, immigration intake would be reduced to about 140,000 in his first two years in office, before increasing it to 150,000 and then 160,000 in the next two years.
Dutton said immigration numbers needed to be reduced to ease pressure on the property market.
“We can’t avoid a situation where we bring in a population larger than Adelaide in a five-year period and we don’t have homes for them,” he told reporters on Monday.
“We are a great country for migration, we have been… one of the biggest successes in the world in terms of our migration programs, but it needs to be balanced and well calibrated.”
Peter Dutton has said that if the Liberals win in the next election they would reduce migration even further, but some housing experts doubt that will have much of an effect on the housing market.
Dutton also took aim at the number of international students, arguing it was exacerbating the housing situation.
“I have no problem with international students, but I want our country’s homes to be occupied first by Australian citizens and by Australian students and older Australians,” he said.
“I want to make sure Australians can get into those houses.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected the coalition proposal, saying the opposition had not fully realized the consequences of such a move.
“When you look, there’s just no details, no costs, no understanding about the impact on the economy,” he told ABC Radio.
“They are a group that simply appeals to their own base, says things that their own base wants to hear without proposing clear, fully-costed policies.”
Opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar said a new migration cap would take into account positions in in-demand industries.
‘It will depend on the skill list at that time. It will depend on the skills you need at any particular time,” he told Sky News.
“Our view is that migration needs to be reduced to relieve pressure on the property market.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and Labor member for Parramatta Andrew Charlton (right) during a visit to a housing construction project in the Sydney suburb of Westmead on Thursday.
Albanese announced in January that his government would amend the previous coalition government’s stage three tax cuts so that more relief would reach low- and middle-income people on July 1, 2024.
Under Labour’s plan, the 37 per cent tax bracket will remain in place for those earning between $135,000 and $190,000. Meanwhile, the 45 percent tax bracket starts at $190,000 instead of $200,000.
Labor abandoned former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s legislated plan to apply a 30 per cent tax bracket to those earning between $45,000 and $200,000, despite backing that law in opposition in 2019.
A full-time minimum wage earner earning $45,906 receives $805 under the Labor plan, versus nothing under the Coalition plan.
The average full-time worker on $98,218 also earns $804 a year, as does a middle-income person on $67,600, making back $1,679 instead of $875.
But high-performing workers earning $180,000 will be hurt by $2,346 a year, and their tax liability will be reduced by $3,729 instead of $6,075.
