We’re all paying for Victorians’ woke bankruptcy. That’s the grim fact of Australia’s most left-wing state and its Stockholm Syndrome obsession with “Dictator Dan”.
While it’s tempting to laugh off Victoria’s black hole as a self-inflicted economic suicide by “Cucktorians”, the simple fact is that Victoria is a millstone around the necks of every Australian.
Taxpayers across the nation will be slugged as much as $2.6bn in the next four years to cover Daniel Andrews’s tax on property owners and business, as the Premier encourages Victorians to use his Covid debt levy to offset commonwealth tax obligations.
At least Jeff Kennett only imposed his Cain/Kirner debt tax on Victorians. Dan Andrews and his socialist pal in Canberra, Anthony Albanase, are slugging all Australians to pay for Victorians’ folly.
Mr Andrews lobbied the federal government ahead of its May budget for extra funding for Victoria, telling journalists earlier this month that he would not let the commonwealth “off the hook” after it failed to provide funding for his state’s 2026 Commonwealth Games.
One economist told The Australian the impact of the $8.7bn in land and payroll tax levies on the federal budget was effectively a federal bailout of Victoria by stealth.
As ever, Andrews has an excuse for everything. Besides falsely blaming Covid for the state’s staggering debt (Covid costs account for less than one-third of total debt), Andrews is trying to pretend that Victorian debt doesn’t ultimately blow back on the rest of the nation.
Tuesday’s budget estimated 860,000 Victorians would pay $4.7bn over four years in additional land tax.
At a 30 per cent marginal tax rate (once stage three tax cuts kick in from mid-2024), the hit to commonwealth revenue would be $1.4bn over the forward estimates […]
After Mr Andrews’s recent entreaty for commonwealth money was rebuffed, the Premier had effectively achieved that support “through the back door”.
The Australian
Forget about saving Victorians from themselves — how can we ever save ourselves from Victorians?