Generous to a fault
Sep 23rd, 2008 | By David Harper | Category: OpinionGeorge Megalogenis: Let’s give credit where it’s due: John Howard, Peter Costello, Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan sure know how to bribe. Between them, they have raised the proportion of the nation’s 9.754 million families who receive more in benefits from Canberra than they pay in income tax to a new record of 42.2 peer cent. As recently as 2004, the benchmark had been 39.3 per cent.
No number surprised me more than this. Our three-part study of the tax and handout system conducted with the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research was designed to add some real politics to the Henry Review.