He declined to state his own views on the tax mix but said “if people are able to work more and be rewarded for that, then that’s a good thing”.
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However, Turnbull denied the Fairfax Media report on Twitter. Asylum seekers have always been a lightning-rod political issue in Australia, although it has never received anywhere near the number of refugees now flooding into Europe as they try to flee instability in the Middle East and North Africa.
Australia doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.
“Well it all depends on how you describe the revenue challenges, but the spending challenges are very significant”, Mr Morrison responded.
Australian economist Stephen Koukoulas weighed in on the debate, accusing the Liberal government of contributing to the problem.
In February, Mr Morrison flagged an idea, which was floated by the previous Labor government, in which retirees could sell the family home for a smaller property and pocket some or all of the surplus without reducing their eligibility for the pension and other government benefits.
“The simple point is that under Abbott, govt spending surged, tax revenue also rose but not as quickly & budget remained in deficit”.
Treasurer Scott Morrison confirmed the government was proceeding with the tax white paper process inherited from his predecessor, Joe Hockey, but everything needed to be considered, including superannuation, capital gains tax and negative gearing.
Ms Sales attempted to bring the Treasurer back to the initial question, which he was avoiding.
Asked about the more than 1,500 people in detention on Nauru and Manus with no clear prospect of resettlement in an interview with Sky Wednesday morning the new prime minister said: “I have… concerns about the situation of people on Manus and Nauru…” Expenditure was more than 26% of GDP – where it was at the height of the global financial crisis – and this was not sustainable, he said.
That’s not something that I’m prepared to embrace…and it’s not something that I’m going to allow to guide our decision making because as Treasurer, I have to focus on the things that I can control and what I can have an influence over is how much the Government spends of taxpayers’ money.
Think about that. Morrison told Sales on “7.30” that he is not in the camp that says “the way that we drive this economy in the future is to jack up taxes”.
Australia’s newly-appointed Treasurer Scott Morrison laid out the foundations for Australia’s finances on Wednesday, signalling a raft of tax cuts as an incentive to kick-start the economy.
Viewers were disappointed in the Treasurer’s manner during the interview, which they said was “aggro” and “overbearing”.
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“With an ageing population, under the right settings, we are unlocking the capital of older Australians, then you are creating new markets for those services in Australia”, he said.
