Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Treasurer

Monday 3rd May 2010

Treasurer's Latest Back Flip

Yet again, the Treasurer, Michael Aird, has been caught out trying to get away with another sneaky back flip.

In Parliament, on 5 November 2009, Michael Aird said:

"If we want to have a decent taxation system in this State obviously we have to listen to what the Henry review is going to deliver for us. We will wait until the Henry review and then adjust our settings according to that review."

However, yesterday the Treasurer changed his tune. He failed to outline how he was going to reform Tasmania's tax system. He even refused to outline if he was going to bother finishing the review of Tasmania's tax system that he half-heartedly started the last time he was put under pressure to reform our under-performing, investment-killing tax system.

The truth is Michael Aird is such a manifestly incompetent manager of Tasmania's budget that he has to burden Tasmanians with more taxes than necessary to cover-up his out-of-control spending.

This is the highest taxing, highest spending government in Tasmania's history. It's set to get worse with not only Labor but the Greens putting their hands in the pockets of Tasmanians as well.

Does Michael Aird seriously think the Tasmanian tax system is performing well? Some taxes are increasing 100% per year and yet the Treasurer is prepared to sit back and do nothing, claiming that he won't act until the other states decide what they want to do.

What a poor excuse. However, it's the sort of excuse you would expect from arguably one of Tasmania's worst Treasurers.

The tyranny of distance demands that we must become the most competitive state in which to do business. The Treasurer seems content to continue to be a dead weight on the Tasmanian economy, increasing the tax burden to prop up the political ambitions of Labor and the Greens.