Prepare the economy for the long term – not the political term

The Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia today called on both political parties to delay any commitment to return to surplus until our economy is in a stronger position.
Chief Executive Officer Lee White said today’s National Press Club Treasurers Debate focused
unnecessarily on returning the budget to surplus.
“We should turn things on their head and get both parties to rule out a return to surplus until steps have been taken to prepare our economy for the long term,” he said.
“Today’s release of $31.6 billion of proposed cuts by the Coalition confirms this fixation on getting to a budget surplus at all costs.
“Savings measures such as the $2,000 cap on the tax deductibility of self-education expenses is an example of bad policy. It’s a myopic grab for cash that will damage the future productivity of our workforce in the long term,” he said.

Mr White said the Coalition’s proposal to dismantle the carbon price and reduce the size of the public sector were also flawed policies.
"Australia will be taking a step backwards if the carbon price is repealed. Encouraging businesses to make the transition towards a low carbon economy is critically important for our future.
“Similarly, wielding the axe through public sector agencies such as Treasury and Finance will mean that it will take even longer for policy announcements to be converted to legislation. In the end it's going to be the community that ends up paying the price for deep cuts to the public sector,” he said.
Mr White said that both sides were strategically turning a blind eye to the need for tax reform which was fast becoming the number one burning issue for our economy.
“Expenditure is going up while revenue is going down.  Something has to change.
“There's a big opportunity for the next federal government to kick-start the tax reform agenda. The hard work of analysing the problems has already been done over the past five years – what we need is a government with the courage to take it out of the ‘too hard basket’.
“The community is ready for an informed debate about the nation's finances and business is crying out for it.  Let's get on with the job of having this critically important discussion,” he said.