Joe Hockey’s move to extend the GST to health would be another $3 billion a year slug on the sick, from a government determined to wreck Australia’s health system.
A GST on healthcare would be the final straw for many families already struggling with the extra financial burden of the Abbott Government’s GP Tax and more than $60 billion in health cuts.
Joe Hockey’s move comes just weeks after a leaked copy of the Federation Green Paper prepared by the Prime Minister’s own Department, revealed the Commonwealth is considering stripping more than $18 billion from hospitals every single year.
The Treasurer’s answers today confirm the Abbott Government is preparing an even more extreme attack on health and family budgets.
Health and health insurance is specifically exempted from the GST and similar Value Added Taxes in many countries on the grounds that it is considered a public good and would distort competition.
Any increase in the base of the GST or an increase in the rate can only be done in a way that would hurt the most vulnerable.
Extending the GST to health would slug families around $3 billion a year on top of the already massive cuts to health and tax hikes it announced in its first Budget.
The Abbott Government must rule out extending the GST to health.
Anything less is just another broken promise to families which will increase the cost of living and worsen health outcomes.