Abetz's cuts bungle to cost Tasmanians even more
Eric Abetz's cuts are a complete mess. More than a week after the new Building Tasmania structures were released, workers still don't know if they have a job.
And now, the Liberals have admitted they've botched the tax on the jobs they've already cut.
Redundancy payouts were treated as tax-free when they should have been taxed, and the Government has self-reported the error to the tax office.
These workers made big decisions about their families and their futures based on what the Government told them. They shouldn't be left worrying about a tax bill because Premier Rockliff and Eric Abetz got it wrong.
The Government is scrambling to make sense of their own mistake. They have rushed through new rules allowing agencies to make extra payments to cover workers' tax bills. At least 40 people who've already signed their exit deals will be asked to sign new ones. And those who have already left are now in tax limbo.
And it's happened before. Earlier this year, TasTAFE workers sacked days before Christmas were told they could be stung almost $5,000 for the same kind of mistake.
Let's be clear, this is a massive error with huge ramifications.
They've been making this same mistake with redundancies since they came into office 13 years ago - so people who left government jobs years ago could find themselves in this same tax mess.
Eric Abetz must explain:
- How many workers are affected.
- How much this latest bungle will cost taxpayers.
- How far back this huge mistake goes; and
- When Building Tasmania workers will know if they still have a job.
Premier Rockliff put Eric Abetz in charge of cutting jobs and services to pay for 13 years of Liberal waste. Now Tasmanians are paying even more to clean up his mess.
