Federal Budget-in-Reply: BDO comment

“Labor’s budget-in-reply speech touches on issues close to voters’ hearts but we need greater detail from the opposition on how it plans to fund its policies”, said BDO tax partner Mark Molesworth.

“In reality, this was an election policy manifesto, rather than a reply to the government, or even an outline of the alternative government’s fiscal policies.

“In a sense, the lack of fiscal policy in tonight’s speech reflects a lack of substantive fiscal policies in the government’s budget from Tuesday night. There was certainly nothing in the budget about a tax system appropriate to the 21st century. Unfortunately, that appears to have encouraged the opposition to likewise ignore the future of the Australian tax system.

“This leaves the nation in the position where neither major party has outlined their vision for the future of our tax system or outlined how they’re going to pay for their promises and policies.

“We will wait to see whether there will be any substantive tax policy announcements ahead of the election in May.”