Ken Henry interrupts his holiday for more big taxes
Tue, 22 Jun 2010
Senator David Bushby, Coalition Economics Policy Committee Chairman, today queried the priorities of the Rudd Government and Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, in placing the Government’s taxing and spending approach to economic management ahead of proper Parliamentary scrutiny.
“Yesterday, Dr Henry interrupted his overseas holiday so he could deliver a speech in Sydney where he talked about extending the Government’s great big new tax on mining, to every company making a healthy profit.
“Given that Dr Henry was unable to interrupt his overseas holiday to meet his obligation to appear before the annual Senate Budget Estimates hearings, his willingness to do so to talk about extending the Government’s proposed new mining tax to other industry sectors raises a lot of questions about his, and the Government’s priorities,” Senator Bushby said.
Although Dr Henry indicated he could not attend the June Budget Estimates hearings (scheduled in October last year) because of his overseas holiday, he did attend a specially convened two hour hearing in late May (prior to his holiday) after the Senate passed a motion moved by Senator Bushby requiring him to appear.
“It now appears that not only is the Government addicted to taxing the future prosperity of Australians through its ‘super’ tax but its Treasury Secretary is encouraging their expansion too," Senator Bushby said.
While wishing Ken Henry all the best for the rest of his holiday Senator Bushby said, “Dr Henry has shown a willingness to interrupt his holiday to attend a forum to discuss more super taxes on business. I hope he will also be able to interrupt future trips for the Senate Estimate hearings.”
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