The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has released its pre-Budget submission, which charts a fairer path back to Budget surplus by unwinding inefficient and inequitable tax and welfare arrangements, rather than through direct spending cuts.
ACOSS claims that it has identified “more than $13 billion of potential savings in the next financial year, rising to over $18 billion in 2016-17, through measures which it says restore the integrity of Australia’s progressive tax system… When two thirds of the structural budget deficit is due to declining revenues, we need a serious effort to restore revenue to adequate levels. Cutting deep into vital social and economic investments and services is the wrong approach and will cost us more in the long run.”
