It’s time we asked: what is the cost not just to the budget, but to society, when the richest are helped to get richer?
The question ‘how do we pay for it’ only seems to come up when the government spends money on things that help low and middle-income earnersGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhen the government announced it was going to spend $8.5bn over four years to fund an increase in bulk billing, it did not take long for journalists such as David Speers on the ABC’s Insiders to ask “what about the money here, $8.5bn, where will that come from?”Never mind that we are talking an average of $2.15bn a year out of a budget which in four years’ time is expected to spend $826bn. It is hardly a big impost, more the question should be why, given how little it will cost, hadn’t it been done already? Continue reading...
The question ‘how do we pay for it’ only seems to come up when the government spends money on things that help low and middle-income earners
- Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
When the government announced it was going to spend $8.5bn over four years to fund an increase in bulk billing, it did not take long for journalists such as David Speers on the ABC’s Insiders to ask “what about the money here, $8.5bn, where will that come from?”
Never mind that we are talking an average of $2.15bn a year out of a budget which in four years’ time is expected to spend $826bn. It is hardly a big impost, more the question should be why, given how little it will cost, hadn’t it been done already? Continue reading...
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