JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN


DON’T BELIEVE LIBERAL LIES ON TAX AND THE ECONOMY

Another desperate scare campaign in today’s media shows why Josh Frydenberg’s credibility is becoming scarcer than a rapid antigen test.

His own Government has taxed Australians at a much higher rate than Labor did, and yet Josh Frydenberg still multiplied the debt even before COVID.

This is yet another reason you can’t believe a word that Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg say about tax and the economy.

The facts in Table E.3 on pages 334-335 of Josh Frydenberg’s own Budget update speak for themselves:

• Taxes have been higher every year under this Coalition Government than what it inherited from Labor in 2013.
• Tax as a proportion of the economy averaged 20.85% under Labor (2008-2013) and 22.25% under the Coalition (2014-2021).
• The two highest taxing governments of the last three decades have both been Coalition Governments - under John Howard and Scott Morrison.
• The Morrison Government is collecting an extra $150 billion this year than the last year of the last Labor Government.

Despite increased taxes this Government has delivered more consecutive deficits than any other government since the 1920s, and racked up record debt with not enough to show for it.

This latest Liberal scare campaign is an increasingly desperate attempt to distract from their diabolical failures on rapid tests, boosters, supply chains, wages and debt.

If Josh Frydenberg actually did his job instead of spending all his time talking about Labor then perhaps working families and small businesses wouldn’t be doing it so tough on his watch.


MONDAY, 17 JANUARY 2022