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Liberal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will deliver a Labor federal budget next Tuesday.
More spending on childcare, aged care, disability and mental health, as well as tax refunds for low- and middle-income earners is in the offing.
In these unorthodox economic times, Treasury, the Reserve Bank of Australia and market economists have all given the government the green light for a more activist fiscal policy.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivers his pre-budget speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Parliament House.Â
Alex Ellinghausen
Even economists who would normally be identified as fiscally disciplined, have backed the government playing a bigger role managing the economic cycle beyond the immediate COVID-19 crisis.
Retirees can afford to pay for aged care. Workers canât
It would be odd if grandparents left tax-free inheritances to their adult children while their grandchildren pick up the extra aged care tax bill while struggling to pay for homes and to raise families.
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Before contemplating tax rises of tens of billions of dollars to deliver better aged care, Australians must talk honestly about the fact that many retirees have the wealth to pay more for care in their twilight years.
The $3 trillion (and rapidly rising) in superannuation savings and trillions of dollars more in home equity must be deployed under a shift towards a user-pay aged care system, while improving the public safety net for the truly less-well off.