A lower backpacker tax on the cards?
Labor has flagged it might consider cross-bench proposals to reduce the proposed backpacker tax to as low as 10.5 per cent.
The government has already bowed to political pressure and reduced the backpacker tax from 32.5 to 19 per cent.
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie however has called for the tax to be abolished completely.
She has given notice that she’ll try to amend the legislation before parliament this week to put in place a zero per cent rate. Failing that, she will settle for a 10.5 per cent proposal.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten yesterday described the government’s package as a “bad compromise.”
Mr Shorten said the Opposition will be studying a Senate report into the government’s legislation but signalled the Opposition was unlikely to support it.
“We are certainly not against ruling out what the Tasmanian industry has been saying, including Senator Lambie and my own Labor representatives in Bass and Lyons and other seats,’’ Mr Shorten told the ABC’s Insiders program.
“So we’re going to, the Government cannot count upon our vote to simply support its latest botched compromise.”
He said the Opposition would be open to supporting the proposal for a 10.5 per cent rate.
“What the Government is also doing is they are now putting a passenger movement charge on passengers who fly,’’ he said.
“This is a government who, whilst they love to say they never increase taxes, that’s exactly what they are doing to travellers right now.”
by Leon Gettler, November 7th 2016
