Senate Inquiry into Labor’s Warped Franking Credits Changes

Today’s reporting on Labor’s endless attack on franking credits highlights their desperate commitment to kill the system of dividend imputation in Australia.

The interference in my Parliamentary Budget Office costing shows Labor will blatantly politicise the Treasury to fast track its stripping of franking credits from Australians.

What is Labor hiding? Why won’t they let the Treasury present the assumptions to the PBO? This is a very poor precedent and I will be probing this outrage at the Senate Economics Committee hearings today.

If legislated, Labor’s warped changes will destroy dividend imputation and investment in Australia.

During the election, Labor promised not to touch franking credits.

But instead of outright banning franking credits, Labor has proposed a new test that would stuff the franking system.

Labor’s proposed test is ugly and punitive.

When I asked the Parliamentary Budget Office to cost the policy, and provide the methodology, Treasury refused to disclose its modelling to the PBO on the $10m budget line item.

I look forward to hearing from the Treasury as well as market participants and individuals about how they will be impacted by these changes.