Last week Andrew Forrest proposed that all people receiving welfare payments, including sickness and disability support, should have their incomes managed by the government. Forrest, like the Government, argues that spending has gotten out of control. He, like the Government, has got his maths wrong.
Welfare as a percentage of government expenditure has fallen in the last decade. The number of people on welfare in Australia is the lowest it has been in 17 years. Apart for the age pension all areas of welfare dependency in Australia are decreasing. So why the emergency?
The problem is not increased spending but decreasing revenue. The cause of this is large corporations not paying tax. In 2011, while Andrew Forrest was bankrolling an anti mining tax campaign against the Gillard government, it was revealed that his company, Fortescue Metals, had payed no company tax, ever. This deprived the governments coffers of $800 million, slightly less than the $882 million News Corp scammed off the ATO last year and a long way behind the money Glencore Xtrata saved by paying no tax at all on a $15 billion dollar profit over the last 3 years.
Businesses failing to declare income or pass on GST revenue and claiming false tax deductions costs $10 billion a year. Tax avoidance costs over $17 billion. People on welfare are already suffering under a harsh budget because people like Andrew Forrest don't pay their taxes. Now he wants to manage their incomes as well.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-09/fortescue-mining-company-tax/3655270