Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

It is very faint praise because the benchmark is not set very high. Senator Evans knows of the serious problems that the Labor Party has. But let me just turn to what has been described to me as a ‘conceptual error’ made in the remarks by Senator Evans. Senator Evans argues that families can access a second tax-free threshold and collect FTB part B. Therefore, the argument is that FTB part B compensates single-income families for not accessing two tax free thresholds. I think that is a summary of Senator Evans’s argument. It is possible for a secondary earner and a couple to have an income above the tax-free threshold of $6,000 and still receive FTB part B. However, due to the lower income level of the secondary earner receiving FTB part B, such families would not receive the same tax benefit that is available to dual-income families from graduated tax scales. Therefore, I am advised, the amount of tax paid by the single-income family including those with incomes above $6,000 for the secondary earner would be higher than that paid by a dual-income couple with the same total income. I think, Senator Evans, the argument you have made is not one which, if you were to examine it statistically, would actually work.