It is unfair that single income families will benefit from a Government decision to pay a new $150 cash bonus from this financial year but that dual income working families still have to wait an extra year before they benefit from the Governments promised childcare tax rebate.
In response to a new Government decision today (Wednesday) to provide a cash
bonus to single income families, ACTU President Sharan Burrow
said:
“The announcement by Family and Community Services Minister
Kay Patterson that single income families will receive a cash bonus of up to
$150 when they lodge their tax return this year is a welcome sign that the
Government wants to give more support to working families.
The
announcement means the Government is bringing forward an election promise to
increase the Family Tax Benefit B that is targeted towards single income
families.
But it is unfair that working families, including those where
both parents work, will have to wait two years before they benefit from the
promised new childcare tax rebate.
During the election the Coalition
promised to introduce a new rebate that would provide parents with an effective
30% discount on their childcare expenses.
Late last year the Treasurer
changed the goalposts on the election promise by announcing the new childcare
tax rebate would be delayed by a year until July 2006 and that it would be
capped at $4000 a year per child.
(See: http://www.treasurer.gov.au/tsr/content/pressreleases/2004/108.asp
)
As a result, working parents will have no relief in their weekly
household budgets from the rising costs of childcare for more than two years
despite the Government’s election promise to help working
families.
The burden of justifying their eligibility for support from the
new childcare rebate will also fall on parents – they will be expected to keep
two years of receipts for their childcare expenses before submitting these to
the Tax Office for assessment.
The Government is on the right track by
bringing forward the new cash bonus for single income families but is off the
rails with this unfair two year delay in the new childcare tax
rebate.”
ACTU Welcomes HREOC Work and Family Project
“The ACTU welcomes the announcement today (Wednesday) by Sex
Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward of a new Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission project to examine work and family balance,” said
ACTU President Sharan Burrow.
“Work and family balance is still a
‘BBQ stopper’. It is one of the top priorities for Australia’s
ten million working people and much more needs to be done to better understand
the pressures facing men and women trying to balance their work and family
responsibilities.”
