Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

The Senate is considering the Tax Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2008. This bill increases the Medicare levy low-income threshold for individuals and families and the low-income threshold of the Medicare levy surcharge to ensure that low-income individuals and families will continue not to be required to pay the Medicare levy or surcharge. The arrangements to ensure that low-income families are not inadvertently required to pay the Medicare levy, by linking the low-income threshold to the consumer price index, have been in place since the Medicare levy itself was introduced, by the Hawke government, in 1984. The taxable income levels below which no Medicare levy is payable are regularly adjusted to take account of the movements in the CPI. Different low-income thresholds are set for individuals, couples, families and pensioners who are under age pension age.

The bill proposes that the low-income exemption threshold be set at $17,309 for an individual without dependants and whose income does not exceed this amount. The threshold for a pensioner under the age pension age will commence at $22,922. An escalating scale of levels of the low-income threshold will be introduced for families, according to the number of children and/or eligible dependent students in the family unit and according to the level of income. The opposition supports this bill, consistent with the bipartisan approach which has been taken to ensure those on low incomes are not required to pay the full levy.