Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

On the matter of the Greens support for this amendment to not have tax deductibility for every $1,500 that is donated to political parties: when you look at the taxation system, what happens when a person donates $1,500 to whichever political party is that they save roughly $600 in taxes. That is, the rest of the unsuspecting public puts in $600, because that is what is forgone in taxes. That is why we oppose that provision. It is, as Senator Fielding said, a different matter for charitable groups, for church groups, for unions and for business. I might say that, as far back as 1996, the last inventory I saw—by Lauren Van Dyke—showed that the corporate sector was advantaged by more than $10 billion a year in tax deductibility and in government grants and support out of the public purse.