The Greens Want To Bring In A 6% Wealth Tax On Australian Billionaires

The Australian Greens want to introduce a six per cent tax on billionaires in the country.

According to the Guardian, there are 122 billionaires in Australia and they would all have to give over huge amounts of money.

Under the plan, Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart would be slugged up to $2.2 billion every year in tax and Clive Palmer would have to fork out around $586 million each cycle of the sun.

The wealth tax is one of several key policies the Greens are planning on taking to an election either this year or next under its Fight for the Future campaign.

Leader Adam Bandt said during a news conference: "Billionaires and the big corporations have been buying influence over the Liberal and Labor parties with political donations, which is how they avoid paying tax, keep wages low, send their profits offshore and keep on polluting."

The Parliamentary Budget Office reckons around $41 billion could be raised for the nation's coffers within a decade under the tax plan. That's a hell of a lot of money.

However, that same office warned there was a high degree of uncertainty with that prediction as there are fears billionaires could hide their assets to avoid paying the tax.

But the Greens are confident with their election plan and also have a plan to lift the poverty line to $80 a day; a treaty with First Nations people; a jobs and income guarantee; get dental and mental health funding through Medicare; make public schools, universities and Tafe free; and produce 700 per cent of the nation's energy needs through renewables.

Adam Bandt is keen on winning three additional Senate seats and nine lower house seats, which would give the party a decent bargaining chip in government debates.

He said: "The next election will be closer than people think. At the last election, Australia was only 828 votes away from a minority parliament.

"At the next election, people can kick the Liberals out and put the Greens in balance of power in both houses of parliament, where we will push the next government to go further and faster on tackling inequality and the climate crisis."

The wealth tax plan comes at a time when recent figures show Australian billionaires doubled their wealth during last year.

Featured Image Credit: Pixabay

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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