Shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien warns Albanese government ‘definitely going after taxing capital' at economic round table
Mr O'Brien told Sky News Sunday Agenda that the government was laying the groundwork to increase taxation across key areas of the economy.
It comes after leaked treasury advice warned that the government would need to hike taxes or cut spending in order to avoid massive budget blowouts.
'I think it's clear the government wants new taxes, and I think that's one of the things we have to prosecute over this first sitting of the parliament,' Mr O'Brien said.
'They're definitely going after taxing capital. They're going after taxing investment. They're going after taxing companies.
'I believe they have an agenda to tax — there's just no doubt about that.'
The government has invited economists and business leaders to the economic round table from 19 to 21 August 2025 to address possible tax reform.
However, Mr O'Brien questioned the integrity of the roundtable, suggesting Labor may already have made up its mind on key economic reforms.
'My fear here is Labor might actually have an agenda already, and that this is nothing but a talk fest,' he said.
The opposition has called for a broader, bipartisan approach to tax reform, with Mr O'Brien signalling the opposition was open to a 'holistic' discussion.
'If it's done holistically, if it's looking at more efficient taxation, if you're looking at fixing up what is currently a mess with Labor being overly reliant on income taxes.'
Labor is facing mounting fiscal pressures including ballooning NDIS costs, an expanding defence budget, and the cost of the Future Made in Australia program.
Former Treasury secretary Ken Henry recently warned that without stronger productivity, the government would be forced to either raise taxes or cut spending.
'If we continue on that trajectory … we will have no option but to raise taxes,' Mr Henry told the National Press Club on Wednesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
25 minutes ago
- Perth Now
A smile, though endometriosis is no laughing matter
Cara Walker was all smiles when she met Anthony Albanese, but as a woman living with endometriosis, she knows the strain that comes with managing a chronic condition. Labor is preparing to introduce legislation to parliament this week which will cap the cost of prescriptions on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to $25 from $31.60 from 2026. Ahead of the bill being presented to the lower house, the prime minister and Health Minister Mark Butler on Tuesday hosted a group of women impacted by endometriosis to discuss the changes. Endometriosis is a disease which tissue grows outside of the uterus, often causing severe pain. Labor amended and made new listings for contraception, endometriosis and IVF on the PBS ahead of the federal election campaign this year. Ms Walker told Mr Albanese chopping and changing between medications to manage chronic conditions quickly added up and was a hit to the hip pocket. "For people who don't have chronic conditions, all of a sudden they could get a cancer diagnosis, something could happen, and that puts a lot of strain on families, so that helps ease that strain, and every little bit counts," she said. Labor made health a centrepiece of its election campaign, pledging $8.5 billion to strengthen Medicare in a bid to make nine out of 10 visits to the GP free by 2030. Pressed during Question Time about bulk billing rates, Mr Albanese pulled out a Medicare card, as he had often done on the campaign trail. "The timeline hasn't changed, the investment is unchanged, the modelling is the same," the prime minister said. Mr Butler also clarified the figures around expected uptake of an expanded bulk billing incentive following criticism rates would take years to improve. But the health minister defended the government's modelling which expects fully bulk-billed practices to rise from about a quarter to three. Mr Butler said about 23 per cent of practices were expected to continue mixed billing, meaning pensioners and kids would be bulk-billed while others might be charged a gap fee. Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said people going to the doctor were paying out of pocket costs higher than what they had ever been. "Right the way through the election campaign, the prime minister waving around his Medicare card and telling Australians and I quote, 'All you'll need is your Medicare card, not your credit card,' was actually misleading the Australian public about the reality that is currently our health care system at the moment," she told ABC's RN.
Sky News AU
25 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
‘Intimidate and keep away': TV host slams planned Sydney Harbour Bridge pro-Palestine protest
Sky News host Chris Kenny slams plans for a pro-Palestine march to take place on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 'So, the pro-Palestinian mob, the anti-Israel mob want to march across the Sydney Harbour bridge,' Mr Kenny said. 'And while a pride march in Gaza would almost certainly end in death at the hands of the Hamas Islamist extremists, this sort of march is a legacy that the pro-Palestinian mob are keen to leverage now. 'Yep, unity is the last thing this protest would foster. "The protesters were there to intimidate and keep away, grieving Jewish Australians.'
Sky News AU
25 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
‘There is no starvation in Gaza': Benjamin Netanyahu denies famine claims
Sky News host Chris Kenny discusses the current situation in Gaza relating to the population's starvation, saying the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies that Gazans are starving. 'International pressure is growing on Israel,' Mr Kenny said. 'But around the world, people are not accepting the information coming from Israel; they are forming their views based on other sources.'
