Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. I understand that she is speaking with respect to a report by the National Foundation for Australian Women that has been reported in the press. The effective marginal tax rate relates to two phenomena that might happen at the same time, or at very similar points in time. When someone's income increases they may face a new tax threshold, or they may face a repayment threshold for something like a HECS debt. Or, indeed, as their income increases they may also face the withdrawal of a benefit of some type inside the welfare system.

It is obviously the case that even with high effective marginal tax rates, which very much existed under the system that we inherited from members opposite and are very much to do with many of the complications in the welfare system, it is always desirable that people are substituting income earned through employment in preference to income earned through welfare benefits.

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