Fact file: What Tony Abbott promised on tax

Updated

When is a promise a promise? Prime Minister Tony Abbott is under pressure following reports the Government will include a "deficit levy" in this month's budget. The mooted plan is being interpreted as breaking a pre-election commitment not to raise taxes.

In an interview on Melbourne radio on April 29, Mr Abbott did not deny that the Government was considering such a levy.

"There's been speculation, as you know, about a deficit reduction levy. Certainly, my intention is that people like myself - high income earners - should bear a significant quantum of the burden when it comes to sorting out our problems," he said on 3AW.

"We want taxes going down, not going up. But, when you're in a difficult position, sometimes there needs to be some short-term pain for permanent and lasting gain."

Mr Abbott has long set a high standard when it comes to keeping promises. On August 22, 2011 he said: "It is an absolute principle of democracy that governments should not and must not say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards. Nothing could be more calculated to bring our democracy into disrepute and alienate the citizenry of Australia from their government than if governments were to establish by precedent that they could say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards."

"It is an absolute principle of democracy that governments should not and must not say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards." Tony Abbott - August 22, 2011

What exactly did Mr Abbott say about new taxes, and when? ABC Fact Check takes a look at his statements from the last parliamentary term and during the 2013 election campaign.

'Lower, simpler, fairer taxes'

Mr Abbott focussed heavily on tax policy issues after failing to form minority government following the August 2010 election. Speaking in parliament on October 28, 2010 he said: "We stand for lower, simpler, fairer taxes, not great big new taxes that damage Australia's economy, not great big new taxes that are yet another hit on the cost of living of struggling Australian families."

On November 16, 2010 he said: "The Coalition will end the waste, repay the debt, stop the big new taxes and, above all else, stop the boats." Mr Abbott also repeated his "lower, simpler, fairer" statement.

During a speech on November 24, 2010, prompted by the third anniversary of Labor's 2007 election win, Mr Abbott again used the "lower, simpler, fairer" phrase and added: "We are Liberals who believe in smaller government, lower taxes, greater freedom."

Opposing the flood levy

"Why should the Australian people be hit with a levy to meet expenses which a competent, adult, prudent government should be able to cover from the ordinary revenues of government?" Tony Abbott - February 10, 2011

In opposing a levy to pay for reconstruction after devastating floods in south-east Queensland in January 2011, Mr Abbott said: "Why should the Australian people be hit with a levy to meet expenses which a competent, adult, prudent government should be able to cover from the ordinary revenues of government?" In the same debate in parliament on February 10, 2011, he said: "The one thing that [people] will never have to suffer under a Coalition government is an unnecessary new tax, a tax that could easily be replaced by savings found from the budget."

On February 23 he said: "We honour the victims of the floods by being a competent parliament and a competent government. We do not honour them by imposing an unnecessary new tax."

Budget reply speeches

During his first budget reply of the 43rd parliament, on May 12, 2011, Mr Abbott said: "People can be confident that spending, debt and taxes will always be lower under a Coalition government because we have the record to prove it." In this speech the then opposition leader also repeated his call to reduce spending instead of imposing a levy to aid with the cost of flood reconstruction. "We have offered to work with the government... on finding savings instead of increasing taxes," he said.

In 2012, in Mr Abbott's budget reply on May 10 he said people who work hard should not be "hit with higher taxes".

In 2013, Mr Abbott's budget reply speech on May 16 focused on removing the carbon and mining taxes. "We want taxes that are lower, simpler and fairer and will take proposals for further tax reform to the following election," he said.

'No new tax collection without an election'

The debate over the introduction of a carbon price prompted many statements on the issue of new taxes.

On August 16, 2011 Mr Abbott said: "A very clear message is going out from the Australian people to this government: there can be no tax collection without an election. If this government had any honesty, any decency, that is what we would have: an election now." He made a similar statement at a rally outside Parliament House on the same day: "There is one fundamental message that we want to go out from this place to every nook and cranny of our country: There should be no new tax collection without an election."

On August 22, 2011, speaking to a motion calling for a plebiscite on the carbon tax, Mr Abbott returned to the theme. "I have often said, and members of this House will no doubt hear me say it again, there should be no new tax collection without an election," he said.

He said it a again in the debate over carbon pricing legislation on September 14, 2011. "I say to this Prime Minister: There should be no new tax collection without an election."

Other parliamentary debates

On November 23, 2011, during a censure motion, Mr Abbott said new taxes weakened economies. "This government thinks that somehow you can build prosperity with new taxes. No country ever got rich by increasing taxation. No country ever built a strong economy by clobbering itself with tax after tax after tax."

"No country ever got rich by increasing taxation. No country ever built a strong economy by clobbering itself with tax after tax after tax." Tony Abbott - November 23, 2011

And again marking the anniversary of Labor's 2007 election win on November 24, 2011, he said: "Our objective can be stated quite simply and quite clearly. It is lower taxes, better services, more opportunities to work and, above all else, stronger borders."

During a debate on September 19, 2012, he said: "The time for big-spending, big-taxing, big-fibbing government has gone. We will give the Australian people the decent government they deserve."

Tax cuts, not new taxes

At a doorstop interview at Canberra company Pure Solar on March 14, 2012 Mr Abbott said the Coalition would deliver tax cuts in government. "What you'll get under us are tax cuts without new taxes," he said

"What you'll get under us are tax cuts without new taxes." Tony Abbott - March 14, 2012

The 2013 campaign

The Coalition's key election policy document "Real Solutions" said: "We pledge to the families of Australia that we will never make your lives harder by imposing unnecessary new taxes."

Fact Check looked through the transcripts of the then opposition leader's campaign appearances and doorstop interviews and found the following statements.

On August 5, during an interview on Seven's Sunrise program:

David Koch: "Okay, so how do you get the budget back into surplus without putting up taxes?" Mr Abbott: "By sensible expenditure restraint."

On August 6, at a doorstop: "Taxes will always be lower under a Coalition government."

On August 9, at a Brisbane press conference: "The only party which is going to increase taxes after the election is the Labor Party."

"The only party which is going to increase taxes after the election is the Labor Party." Tony Abbott - August 9, 2013

On August 11, at a press conference at Sydney's Bondi Beach:

Question: "Mr Abbott, Julie Bishop said on TV that... you would have to do both raising taxes and cutting spending to bring the budget back to black. What taxes do you propose to raise?" Mr Abbott: "The only party that will raise taxes after the election is the Labor Party."

On August 15 at a press conference in Tasmania: "I am determined not to increase the overall tax burden. I am absolutely determined not to increase the overall tax burden on anyone."

And that night, in an interview with ABC 7.30 he said it again.

Leigh Sales: "Given the magnitude of the challenge, to be honest with the Australian people you'd have to say, 'We're looking at substantial either cuts to spending or increases to taxes'?" Mr Abbott: "There will be no overall increase in the tax burden whatsoever."

At a press conference in Western Australia on August 17, he returned to the theme: "Now I say the tax burden isn't going to increase. Well, we are going to abolish the carbon tax, abolish the mining tax, we will reduce the company tax – of course the overall tax burden is going to go down."

Talking about a Coalition proposal to impose a levy on big business to fund a paid parental leave scheme, Mr Abbott said during a press conference on August 18: "I want to make it absolutely crystal clear that our objective when the fiscal circumstances are right, is to lower all taxes. We want to lower all taxes. We really are the party of lower, simpler, fairer taxes – look at our record in government."

"The Coalition believes in lower, simpler, fairer taxes, it is in our DNA, but we have got to get the budgetary position under control and the trouble is that this Government has got a budget emergency on its hands." Tony Abbott - August 18, 2013

The same day on Meet the Press, Mr Abbott referred to budgetary constraints: "Well, I would love to get all tax rates down. I would love to [get the] company tax rate down further; I'd love to get the personal tax rate down further. The Coalition believes in lower, simpler, fairer taxes, it is in our DNA, but we have got to get the budgetary position under control and the trouble is that this Government has got a budget emergency on its hands."

On August 19, Mr Abbott talked about cutting "unnecessary taxes" during a radio interview. "We'll build a stronger economy so that everyone can get ahead, and part of building a stronger economy is cutting unnecessary taxes, abolishing unnecessary taxes," he said.

In an address to the National Press Club on September 2, Mr Abbott said that in three years' time, "because taxes will be lower and regulation reduced, economic growth should be stronger" if the Coalition was elected.

On September 5, during a doorstop in Victoria, he said: "Right now the best thing we can do for our country and ultimately the best thing we can do for people around the world is to strengthen our economy and that means cutting taxes, building the infrastructure of the future, because if tax is lower and infrastructure is better our economy will be more productive and a strong Australia is going to be a much better international citizen than an Australia which can't really pay its way."

The same day during a Brisbane press conference, he said: "Economic policy will be geared towards stronger economic growth than it currently is. If you reduce taxes, if you reduce regulation, if you increase productivity, you will get stronger economic growth."

Sources

Topics: abbott-tony, tax, government-and-politics, federal-election, federal-government, federal-parliament, liberals, australia

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