Costello Pledges Tax Cut for the Rich

From the department of the-average-Aussie-is-not-impressed:

Australia's top income tax rate would fall from 45 to 40 cents under a five-year tax-cut plan announced today by the federal Treasurer, Peter Costello.

Dramatically lifting the stakes in the election campaign, Mr Costello outlined a two-part package involving specific tax cuts worth $34 billion for the next three years and a tax cut "goal" for five years.

Under the plan, the top tax rate of 45 per cent on income above $180,000 would be cut to 43 per cent on July 1, 2009, and then to 42 per cent on July 1, 2010. Mr Costello said he wanted it to eventually fall to 40 per cent by 2012.

Now, had Peter Costello promised a universal tax cut for everyone by, say, increasing the tax-free threshold from $6000 to $7000, he would essentially be giving an equal amount of tax rebate to every single Australian wage earner. If he had suggested that then I would say that some average Aussies would seriously think about voting for the coalition this time around.

As it stands at the moment, offering tax cuts to the rich is just another way of rewarding the Coalition's "base" (essentially the rich) and does nothing to reduce the tax burden of average wage earners. It is also unlikely to be a vote winner.